


The First Steps

by namelesslunitic



Series: The True Love [2]
Category: Family Guy
Genre: Commitment, Crossdressing, First Date, Humor, M/M, Romance, dogxbaby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-21
Updated: 2012-09-21
Packaged: 2017-11-22 19:51:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 45,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/613614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namelesslunitic/pseuds/namelesslunitic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After recently getting together, Brian and Stewie begin their new life as a couple, trying to get used to this new stage in their relationship and all the complications that come with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Family Guy or any of these characters.

_"Stewie, I'm home!"_

_The dog entered his house and shut the door before proceeding into the living room. He sat down on the couch, undid the buttons on his black suit jacket, and waited for his partner to come greet him. It didn't take long for him to hear the familiar pitter-patter of feet approaching from behind the couch, followed by a voice._

" _Hey, B-ry!"_

_Brian smiled and looked to the left to see Stewie appear. The boy hopped up onto the couch and looked up at the dog, beaming. Brian leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips before pulling back and allowing him to speak._

_"Soooooo? How'd it go at the book signing?"_

_The dog gave a stretch and leaned into the couch before answering._

_"It was amazing, Stewie. I knew it was only a matter of time before people realized what a masterpiece_ Faster Than The Speed of Love _actually is, but the people there were so enthused about the book it was…unreal."_

_The dog chuckled._

_"It was great to have something to really be proud of for once. It wasn't like it was when everyone loved_ Wish It, Want It, Do It. _I always knew that was tripe, even if I did let the fame go to my head somewhat. This was completely different. This was the first time I had really put my heart and soul into something and had it honestly received that well by the public. You were right. My novel was strong enough to stand up on its own merits. It just took a little while to find its footing, and in the end, it was all worth it."_

_Brian sighed contentedly._

_"I can't believe how well everything is going for me right now."_

_He wrapped an arm around Stewie and pulled him in close._

_"And it all started with you."_

_The dog began to run his paw slowly up and down the length of the boy's arm, earning an appreciative murmur from him._

_"Mmmmm."_

_Stewie laid his head against the dog's chest and let himself just enjoy the contact for a while. After several moments, Brian leaned over and kissed the top of his partner's head. He inhaled the boy's scent and whispered into his ear._

_"I love you so much."_

_This elicited a shiver from the child as he felt the dog's breath grace across his ear. He looked up and met Brian's eyes with his own._

_"I love you, too."_

_Before either of them realized it, their lips were touching again, the pressure firm but gentle. Stewie moaned and took a hold of Brian's tie, pulling him closer and trying to deepen the kiss. Brian laughed into the kiss and slowly pulled away, much to the chagrin of his partner._

_"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Kid. There will be plenty of time for that later."_

_Stewie let go of Brian's tie and frowned slightly._

_"You're no fun."_

_The dog rolled his eyes at this and smirked._

_"Oh, really? Well, we'll just have to see who's no fun later on tonight then. I just figured that, since my book has suddenly become such a huge success, that we could go out and celebrate or something. No sense in ruining our evening before it even gets started, is there?"_

_At these words, Stewie's frown was suddenly replaced by a suggestive expression._

_"Fine, but I'm going to make you pay for making me wait."_

_Brian felt the heat rising to his cheeks as he instinctively raised a paw up to scratch behind his neck, unable to keep his mind from wandering over all the possible ways in which Stewie probably planned to make him_ pay _._

_"Oh…well…I…"_

_He shook his head, trying to clear it and regain his composure. After a few seconds, he responded._

_"Like I said, we'll have plenty of time for all that later, but for right now, how about you go ahead and tell me how your day went."_

_The boy's eyes lit up at this, all too eager to indulge Brian's request and explain to his partner what had been going on with him all day._

_"Weeeelllll…after you left, I spent about an hour watching a little television, nothing really that good just a couple of standard sitcoms to kill some time. After that, I got online and read a couple of articles about your book. You know, just felt like reading up on what a huge success my man is. I had to stop when I dared to read one of the comments sections and saw all the crazy fans who were talking about how sexy you are and how much they wanted to boink you and whatnot. I swear, Brian, it took everything in me to not track each and every one of them down and give them a warning they wouldn't soon forget."_

_Brian laughed at this, and in response, Stewie's gaze turned steely, obviously not amused in the slightest._

_"What are you laughing about? You know good and well that I could have gotten to them if I really wanted to."_

_Brian's smile didn't falter._

_"I didn't mention this before because I knew you wouldn't like hearing about it, but…there were actually a couple of those 'crazy fans' at the book signing."_

_The boy immediately went to say something, but Brian stopped him._

_"Wait. Wait. Let me finish."_

_Stewie reluctantly let the dog continue._

" _They kept going on and on about how much they loved me and how handsome they thought I was. I won't lie, it was really flattering, but I told them all the same thing, 'I appreciate the compliment, but you're wasting your time because I've already got someone who_ really  _loves me back home, and I would never do anything to jeopardize what we have together.'."_

_Stewie's gaze softened a bit._

" _You really said that, Bry?"_

_The dog nodded his head._

" _Maybe not those exact words, but that was the gist of it."_

_He grabbed Stewie's hand._

" _I don't want that stuff to bother you. What we have…I could never replicate that with anyone, Stewie, and even if I could, I wouldn't want to because you are_ everything  _to me."_

_The dog gave the boy's hand a firm squeeze and looked at him seriously._

" _You do trust me, right? I know, in the past, I've mistreated you, but I do regret those instances, Stewie. Things are different now. I'm seeing everything clearly for the first time in a long while, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you again."_

_The boy's stern look completely fell away, and he let a small smile form across his lips._

" _I…I do. I do trust you, Brian."_

_The dog smiled at this and released the boy's hand. He was about to go in for a hug but stopped when he saw Stewie's smile transform into an all too familiar smirk._

" _Now, as for your crazy fans. Them? I don't trust_ them  _at all, so it couldn't hurt to send just a tiny warning, could it?"_

_Brian shook his head and laughed._

" _The last thing I need is a story about one of my adoring fans being murdered by my crazy boyfriend just because they tried to get a little too close to me. I doubt that would help my book sell."_

_Stewie just scoffed at this._

" _Please, Brian. There's no such thing as bad publicity. I bet a scandal like that would make your book fly off the shelves faster than it already is. Besides, I never said anything about killing them. You know I've reformed from my more sadistic ways. I have you to thank for that, and I have no intention of throwing that all away for a petty little thing like jealousy."_

_Brian was very pleased to hear that. Stewie had come such a long way from the evil child he used to be, determined to rule the world and hardly ever giving a second thought to things like murder. He hated to imagine where Stewie would be right now without him just like he hated to imagine where he'd be right now without Stewie._

" _I'll tell you what. How about I take you with me the next time I get a chance to go out and promote the book. Think you can handle meeting a bunch of my fans in person?"_

_Stewie seemed to take a moment and think about Brian's question before responding confidently._

" _I'm sure I can manage that. I'd love to come along with you next time, but you know, what you should do is just go ahead and make me your publicist again. Remember how good I was at that job? It would help if I could really keep an eye on all those skanks and make sure that they don't try anything funny. Plus, I really did love being able to support you in such a strong way, even if you did kind of ruin it for me by being a douche…"_

_There was an awkward silence that brought on a tense atmosphere, and for a split second, Brian could have sworn he saw a tinge of sadness make its way into Stewie's expression._

" _But, like you said, that's in the past."_

_The dog nodded his head, shaking away the guilty feelings that were beginning to surface._

" _I just might have to do that. You really were amazing at that job."_

_The tension seemed to immediately alleviate after Brian's compliment._

" _Thanks."_

_Stewie chuckled and then continued, sarcastically._

" _Not that I needed you to tell me that, but thanks all the same."_

_For a while after that exchange, there was just a comfortable silence with the two of them just reclining and relaxing together on the couch. For Brian, the longer he sat there, the heavier his eyelids began to get, and he was about to doze off when, suddenly, Stewie loudly spoke up._

" _Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you about the other thing I was doing today! I mean, I was working on it when you came in, but once we started talking, I guess it just slipped my mind."_

_The dog's eyes shot upon. He looked over at his partner, curiosity apparent on his face._

" _What are you talking about?"_

_Stewie suddenly got really excited. He grabbed Brian's paw and pulled him up off of the couch._

" _Come on. Follow me. You're going to love this!"_

_The boy quickly sped off, dragging Brian through the living room, up the stairs, and into their bedroom. He stopped at the bookcase, which Brian knew concealed Stewie's hidden lab. The kid obviously wanted to show him a new invention of some sort. While Brian was busy pondering what it was that Stewie could possibly have cooked up in his lab, Stewie set to work inputting the proper passcode that revealed the secret room._

" _Alright, Brian! Prepare to be blown away!"_

_With that, the door to the lab began to open. Before Brian could see inside, though, he felt himself suddenly being shoved by an unknown force. He fell to the floor, and Stewie rushed over, looking concerned._

" _Brian, are you ok? Brian? Brian?"_

* * *

"Brian."

The dog's eyes opened slightly as he began to awaken from his deep sleep.

"Hmmm. I-I'm fine. You wanted to show me something?"

The boy looked at him slightly confused but quickly figured out that the dog must have been referring to a dream he'd been having since it was obvious that he was still half asleep. The infant smiled.

"Awww. Brian, were you dreaming about me?"

The canine rolled over and rubbed his eyes. He looked around and finally realized that he had been dreaming and was now waking up where he had fallen asleep the night before, Stewie's crib. He looked at the boy, who was clothed in a pair of blue pajamas, and chuckled nervously.

"I, uh, I guess you caught me, huh."

The boy giggled and scooted in so that he was snuggled against his partner. He began slowly running his hand through the fur on Brian's belly.

"Sooooo? What was I doing in your dream?"

The dog just shrugged.

"Nothing special really. We were just kind of sitting on a couch, talking to each other like we usually do."

It wasn't the whole truth, but Brian wasn't quite ready to reveal all the details of his dream to Stewie or the fact that he had been having similar dreams ever since they'd officially gotten together a couple of days ago. It was just too early in their relationship to be discussing a life all their own, even if he knew full well that that was something he wanted for them. The likelihood of that ever happening seemed really slim, though. They were together now, sure, but there were still so many complications at play, things that would need to be addressed at some point. For now, though, there was no sense in ruining these early days of their newfound mutual love for one another. He smiled and took a hold of the hand that was on his stomach, and then, the boy sighed sadly.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, Brian, the reason I woke you up was to make sure that you were able to get out of my bed before Lois came in, soooo…"

Brian nodded his head in understanding, kissed the boy's hand, and hopped out of the crib. He reached through the bars and gave the child one last affectionate stroke across his cheek before making a retreat for the door. Before he left, he turned back one last time to gaze upon the one that mattered most in his life.

"I'll see you in a little while."

The infant smiled warmly at him.

"Ok."

With that, Brian exited the room and headed down the stairs to make like he'd been sleeping on the couch all night. This was one of the things Brian was bugged by. He hated how he had to get up so early and leave Stewie every morning just so he could avoid raising any suspicion from Lois. In actuality, the chances of Lois ever coming to the conclusion that there was something funny going on between him and Stewie weren't that good, considering everything else they had been able to get away with, and it wasn't like he'd never slept in Stewie's room before. Still, things were different now, and Brian just wanted to be safe. God help him should Lois, or anyone for that matter, find out about him and Stewie. The dog shook those thoughts away, refusing to dwell on them. He got up on the couch, curled up into a more dog-like sleeping position, and waited for Lois to get up and bring Stewie down with her.

* * *

Stewie was lying in his crib, smiling. He could still hardly believe that his dream had actually come true. Brian was his. He was Brian's. They were…together. Despite what had seemed like insurmountable odds, he had successfully won Brian's heart. Out of all of his goals in life, this was the one that mattered the most, and he had triumphed. Victory was his. He folded his arms up under his head and gazed up at the ceiling, zoning out as he reflected on what had occurred only a couple of days ago. He couldn't recall a single event in his life that had brought on the kind of joy he had experienced the moment Brian came up to his room to tell him that he accepted and reciprocated his love. He laughed to himself, remembering the way the dog had chosen to reveal how he felt.

_"You wanna do something sometime?"_

It couldn't have been any more perfect. Stewie had been hitting on Brian for such a long time, and he had sometimes wondered if Brian ever really picked up on his come-ons. That statement, though, proved that Brian had been aware of his attraction, at least to a degree. Plus, the fact that Brian even remembered that time, the time when the child had first begun to see the dog as something more than a friend, really did mean a lot to him. He'd always considered that a special moment in his life, and now, he knew that Brian felt the same way about it. The boy let his mind wander as he reminisced on all the times he had tried to win over Brian. Memories that used to sting were now ones that he could look back on and laugh at fondly for the most part. He remembered the night Jillian had left Brian and how he had tried to convince Brian to have sex with him. He remembered the time Brian requested to borrow his urine for a drug test and how he had used the opportunity to strip down in front of the canine and subtly try to implant some naughty thoughts into the dog's brain. He remembered the first time he got to touch Brian's penis and how overwhelmed he had been by how forward Brian had acted before he found out it was really the boy in disguise. Before long, Stewie could feel himself getting turned on by these memories and began to reflect on the night he and Brian had consummated their relationship. It hadn't happened under the best of circumstances. Stewie certainly would have preferred it if they could have reached that point without Brian having reached such a low point in his life, but he tried not to think about that as he closed his eyes and recalled how eager Brian had been during the act, how wonderful it had been to have the dog take him, claim him in such a passionate way. The baby moaned lowly at the thought and reached down to rub at his groin. He couldn't exactly just take off his pajamas and start going to town on himself since Lois could walk in at any minute, but maybe, he had just enough time to get a little good crotch rubbing in. Unfortunately, just as he was beginning to get himself going, the door opened and Lois shuffled into the room wearing a robe and looking extremely tired. Stewie silently cursed his mother for interrupting his good time as she made her way over to the crib and wordlessly picked him up. Despite his frustrations with the woman, though, Stewie didn't protest since he knew the quicker he got this over with, the quicker he could return to his love, who was no doubt waiting for him in the living room downstairs like he'd been doing recently. Lois set him down on the floor and walked over to the dresser to retrieve her son's regular yellow shirt and overalls along with a pair of socks and shoes. She walked back over, picked up Stewie, and brought him over to lie down on the changing table. She blinked her eyes a couple of times before looking down at the infant and smiling at him.

"Good morning, Honey. Did you have sweet dreams?"

The baby smirked up at her.

"Oh, if only you knew just how  _sweet_ my dreams really were. You'd probably keel over right on the spot if you knew what all ran through my head."

As usual Lois completely ignored what was being said by her youngest child, passing it off as simple baby talk as she proceeded to change the boy into his clothes for the day. Before long, the child was dressed, and Lois was once again carrying him. She carried her son out of the room and down the stairs to the living room. The annoyed look on Stewie's face was quickly replaced by a small grin once he caught sight of the dog pretending to be asleep on the couch. The woman set her son down on the couch beside the canine, and Brian immediately sat up and stretched. Without a word, Lois turned to head towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the family. Once Lois was occupied in the kitchen, Brian placed an arm around Stewie and pulled the boy in closer, allowing the child's head to rest against his side. They never bothered with the television like they normally would in the morning, and no words were exchanged. They just stayed that way, enjoying each other's company and the abnormal silence of the house, save for the sizzling of a frying pan, for as long as they could before the others came down and the pretending would have to begin.

* * *

"I'm tellin' ya Lois we're gettin' really close to findin' out who messed up our car, and when we find 'em, oh boy, you can bet they're gonna wish they hadn't. Me and Chris are gonna make 'em pay!"

The Griffins were all sitting around the table, eating breakfast, as they listened to Peter explaining the latest developments in his and Chris's investigation into who had vandalized the car a couple of days ago. Both Brian and Stewie had to try really hard to keep themselves from laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, mainly because of the fact that they knew what had happened to the car, but also because of just how illogical the connections being made were. Simply put, the two older Griffin males were no Holmes and Watson. Lois was barely paying attention to her husband, obviously growing tired of Peter's foolish pursuit.

"Peter, don't you think that it's enough that we already have Joe looking into what happened with the car? What makes you think you'll be able to find this person before he does?"

Peter rolled his eyes at this.

"Really, Lois? Joe's a freakin' cripple. Who knows how long it will take him to track down this person. Beside's I was talkin' to him the other day, and he told me not to worry about it too much, that it was probably just some teenagers messin' around or something."

Lois sighed.

"And what if it was just some teenagers messing around? Then this whole  _investigation_ is completely pointless."

Peter shook his head fiercely and slammed his fist down on the table, causing it to shake violently and almost knock some dishes onto the floor.

"No! It wasn't just some stupid teenagers! What happened in that garage was a message, a threat against my family, and I'm gonna find the bastard responsible!"

Lois shot up from the table, fed up with Peter and peeved at his sudden unwarranted burst of outrage.

"How can you know that, Peter!? God! I swear you get stupider everyday!"

Peter followed suit, shooting up from his seat and retorting.

"I have a natural talent for solving mysteries! Remember that one time at that mansion where I single-handedly solved all those murders!"

Lois scoffed at this.

"You! You didn't solve anything! Your incompetence almost got me killed!"

Peter folded his arms and shook his head.

"Oh, how quickly we forget. Don't we, Lois?"

There was an awkward pause. Everyone at the table was staring at Lois waiting to see what she would do next, but after only a few seconds, she just threw her hands up into the air in exasperation and walked out of the room. Peter just smirked, like he had won a battle of wits, and proceeded to finish his breakfast before saying goodbye and heading off to work. Chris and Meg followed soon afterwards, Chris seemingly proud of his dad for standing up to Lois about their investigation and Meg obviously just annoyed by the whole ordeal. Brian looked over at Stewie, who was rolling his eyes.

"This family, huh?"

Brian nodded his head.

"It sure can be…interesting at times."

Stewie chuckled.

"Well, that's not exactly the word I would have chosen, but yes, you're right. There's hardly ever a dull moment here. Still, it's a miracle that I haven't gone completely insane from it all."

Brian smirked at this.

"I don't know about that. I've always considered you a pretty fucking crazy individual."

The boy feigned offense at the dog's statement.

"There's a fine line between insanity and genius, and I'll have you know that, at the moment, I'm firmly on the genius side of that line. However…"

The child leaned in a little closer with a sly grin and whispered.

"When it comes to you, I can't help but be a  _tiny_ bit crazy."

The dog chuckled at this.

"Well, they say the crazy ones are the most fun."

The boy nodded his head.

"Mmhmm. You have no idea."

Brian wasn't sure when it had happened, but he was just now realizing just how close his face was to Stewie's and how he couldn't help but start to tilt his head in closer. Unfortunately, before things could escalate, the two of them heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, prompting them to jump away from each other and try their best to compose themselves. By the time Lois walked into the kitchen, Brian and Stewie were once again focused on their breakfast, trying to ignore the sexual tension that had been building ever since the others had left. The woman sighed.

"Brian, could you please drop Stewie off at preschool this morning. Arguing with Peter has given me a headache, and I just want to lie down for a little while before I go shopping later."

The dog finished chewing the food in his mouth and tried to hide the eagerness in his voice as he replied.

"Oh, yeah, of course. No problem, Lois. I'll take care of that."

Lois smiled and thanked the dog before leaving the kitchen again and heading back upstairs to her room. Brian looked over at Stewie, who had quite a perturbed look on his face. The baby looked back over at him and shook his head.

"I swear that woman has the worst timing. She's always interrupting my fun."

Though the canine wasn't entirely aware of what Stewie meant, he couldn't help but chuckle as he turned back to finish his meal.

* * *

It wasn't like it was hard for Brian and Stewie to find time alone together. The family hardly ever paid them much mind, and they completely trusted Brian to take care of the youngest Griffin child. Still, that didn't mean the couple didn't jump at every opportunity they were given to be by themselves. The car ride to Stewie's preschool was by no means a long one (at the max five minutes depending on the traffic), but to them, that was just around five extra minutes where they didn't have to worry about others seeing them. The dog was holding the infant's hand, stroking it lightly and savoring the contact before the boy had to leave him for the day. Stewie was in the process of ranting about various things he had to deal with at his preschool, but while his voice carried a tone of annoyance, he was still smiling. Brian nodded his head, occasionally making a comment when he saw fit to do so, but mostly, just letting the kid speak his mind. It was hardly any different than it had always been. The added layer of romance to their relationship felt more natural than Brian would have ever expected. Maybe, that was because it had always been there to a degree. There was the occasional moment where the dog wasn't sure how to act around the kid now, but they passed quickly. Stewie was so confident about everything that the dog was never given much time to feel awkward about this new step in their relationship. Brian was still trying to figure things out, but he was happy, really, genuinely happy. After years of feeling discontent with his life, he wasn't going to give up this feeling for anything. He turned onto the street the preschool was located on, and just as the building came into site, a request came from Stewie.

"Bry, could you pull over for a moment?"

The canine looked over at the boy, confused, but did as he was asked and stopped the car on the side of the road about a block away from the drop off point. As soon as they were stopped, Stewie unbuckled himself from his car seat and crawled over into the dog's lap. Brian tensed up, not sure what Stewie was up to. He darted his eyes back and forth, making sure no one was around outside. Once he was sure they were safe, he looked down at the boy.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

Stewie didn't say anything, just rested his head against the dog's chest and hummed contentedly. After a moment, he met the dog's eyes.

"I don't want to leave you."

The dog let out a small laugh.

"What? It's not like you're going away for long or anything. It's not even for the entire day."

The child gently bit his lip with a contemplative expression on his face.

"I-I know, but…I mean, it's not like I  _need_ to go to preschool or anything. We could just hang out until it's time to go home."

The boy reached up and began scratching behind the dog's ear.

"Wouldn't you like that?"

Brian would be lying if he were to say that Stewie's offer didn't sound appealing, and it didn't help matters any that the child was working his magic, the contact, that smooth needy tone in his voice, the way he knew just how to scratch him to get the dog's leg going. Oh, yeah, Stewie knew exactly what buttons to press, and Brian loved it. He wanted to just drive off, take Stewie somewhere secluded and do unspeakable things to this seductive, conniving little genius child. They hadn't really done anything like that with each other ever since that night he had come home drunk because he'd been too nervous about the others finding out somehow, and he'd been eagerly anticipating an opportunity to get Stewie completely to himself for a little while. This seemed like the perfect opportunity, but just as he was about to give in, he had a moment of clarity and realized that this just wasn't the right time. He gently pushed the boy away, reaching up to grab that magic hand to prevent it from entrancing him any further.

"I would really like that, Stewie, but if I don't drop you off at preschool, Lois might find out that you didn't go, and then, I'd have a lot of explaining to do."

The look of disappointment that appeared on the boy's face was heartbreaking, but eventually, he just nodded his head in understanding.

"I guess you're right. It's just that…Brian, we haven't even been on a proper date yet, and in case you've forgotten, this all started with you asking me out."

The canine patted the child's back and smiled.

"I know, Kid. I know. Of course, we've only been together for a couple of days, but I understand your frustration. This is just something we're going to have to deal with. I promise you, as soon as we have an opportunity; we're going to go out."

The child was still disappointed, but he smiled back at the dog and crawled back over to his car seat. Brian buckled him back in and pulled back onto the road to drive the short distance to the preschool. He stopped at the drop-off point, and waited for Stewie to get out. Just as the boy was about to open the door, Brian felt a sudden impulse. Not wanting to leave things off on such a sour note, the canine placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. The child turned his head around, and the dog used the opportunity to place a finger under the baby's chin, tilting his head up and capturing his lips in a quick kiss. He pulled away and was pleased by the huge grin that had taken the place of the boy's look of disappointment.

"Have a good day, Stewie."

The child giggled, blushing. He took a moment to compose himself before responding.

"Ok. I'll see you this afternoon."

With that, he hopped out of the car and practically skipped into the building. The dog chuckled, taking a moment to admire the boy before driving off and heading back for home. On the way there, Brian couldn't help but do a little reflecting on the history of his relationship with Stewie, something he had been doing a ton of ever since that morning when he'd realized how much the boy really meant to him. From the outside looking in, the whole situation was simply batshit crazy, but everything about it just felt so right. Looking back at where they started and where they were now, it all just seemed so natural, inevitable that they would reach this point. Ok, so their early relationship was maybe a tad strained, and maybe he felt the kid was a bit of a nuisance at first. All that aside, it really hadn't taken long for him to begin seeing Stewie for the kindred spirit he was, and from that point on, he'd always been at his happiest when he was with Stewie. Well, maybe  _always_ wasn't the right word. There were several moments in their relationship that were far from happy ones, and as he had been thinking about things over the past couple of days, he had also begun to realize that most of those instances were his own fault. He'd been blind to it before, but he couldn't ignore the fact any longer. There had been times when he had been a serious ass to the kid. He'd known about the child's  _crush_ on him and had deliberately chosen to ignore it because of how uncomfortable it had made him to think about, not to mention all the instances where he had been too obsessed with other things to give a damn about the boy's feelings. A wave of guilt began to overwhelm the dog as he thought about the specific moments where he had mistreated Stewie. There was the time when he had let fame go to his head and had been acting overly critical and just plain hurtful towards the child. That was probably the worst example. Stewie had been in tears after that one. He could hardly believe how terrible he had been in that moment.

_I was a monster._

It hurt him to think about that, made him hate who he had allowed himself to become, allowing himself to take for granted the most important person in his life, the very reason he had briefly become such a success in the first place. Brian pulled to the side. He was feeling sick to his stomach, thinking about what all Stewie had put up with and how he himself had at times treated him in return, and then, as he was mulling all this over, he began to remember an instance that he had completely forgotten about, possibly blocked from memory. He shuddered as images came flooding back to him, images of Stewie with a dislocated arm and him mercilessly trying to force it back into its socket, ignoring the boy's cries of pain, gagging him so no one would hear. That was it, that had been his lowest moment, and it had all been because of that skank of a preschool teacher, Miss Emily. He lowered his head against the steering wheel and sighed.

_How could he still love me after…that. I…abused the kid._

He didn't understand it. Stewie should despise him for all of that, not love him. He had done nothing to earn that love. He raised his head back up, now with a perfectly stoic expression, hiding the turmoil he was currently feeling.

_We may be together now, and we may even be happy, but I can't just ignore all this any longer. I have a lot to make up for. I'm going to earn my place in Stewie's heart._

It was a promise, one he intended to keep. He cranked the car again and pulled out onto the road to head back towards home, determined to do right by his partner from now on.

* * *

Stewie was at a table, casually coloring in a book that he had found on the floor upon walking into the room with the other children, but his mind was far from focused on his art. All he could think about was that goodbye kiss, unable to remove the large, saccharine grin that was plastered on his face. It wasn't even like, he'd never kissed the dog before, far from it, but that kiss had still been really special. He could read Brian like a book. He knew how nervous the canine was about this new step in their relationship, but that kiss had been a genuine sign of just how much the dog loved him. The fact that Brian had instigated such an obvious display of affection, even in a semi-public setting, did wonders in reassuring Stewie that everything was going to work out, that he wasn't just another one of Brian's flings but someone truly special in the dog's heart. Ever since he and Brian had gotten together, Stewie had tried his best to stay confident about the whole thing, focusing solely on the here and now of the matter, but there was always that small inkling of worry that he could end up just like all the other people Brian had hooked up with, just another rotation in the cycle. And, really, he had every right to be slightly worried. It wasn't like Brian had never hurt him before. There were several instances that Stewie could look back on where Brian had mistreated him. Of course, to be fair, it wasn't like he'd been a perfect angel toward Brian either. There were things that he had done to Brian that he regretted, but the amount of emotional pain he felt at times seemed like it more than made up for any of the physical pain he'd at times inflict upon the canine. He was just violent by nature. He'd gotten better about things like that, but that side of him still found a way to come out every now and again. He was working on it, though. The child sighed.

_The simple truth is, even if we do care about each other, we've both had moments where we've mistreated each other, but things can be different now that everything is out in the open between us._

The boy smiled again. Sure, there was a lot of hurt in the past, which he fully intended to make all up to the dog in time, but he didn't need to focus on that right now. Things were finally perfect between him and Brian. There was no need to ruin the magic of these early days in their couplehood. There was no doubt that all this would need to be addressed in time, but for now, the child was content simply thinking about that kiss. He finished his coloring, giving it an approving look and then tearing out the page, folding it, and putting it into his pocket before running off to another section of the room, hoping to find something else to occupy him as he waited for the school day to end.

* * *

Brian walked into the house and took a seat on the couch. He grabbed the remote and flipped on the television, figuring it was just as good as anything else to kill some time. There wasn't anything else for him to do at the moment, no errands he needed to run or anything, nothing to occupy him enough to take his mind off of the guilt he was feeling. A little TV sounded good at the moment, so he started flipping through channels. It didn't take him long to realize that there was nothing decent on. Defeated, he cut off the TV, tossed the remote aside, and slumped down into the couch. A couple of minutes later, he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and looked over to find that it was Lois. He sat up, hoping to hide the fact that something was bugging him and keep Lois from asking any questions. He forced a smile and addressed the woman.

"Oh, hey, Lois. You, uh, feeling any better?"

Lois took a seat beside him on the couch before nodding her head, but the look on her face made it clear that she was still upset about this morning.

"Yeah, I'm feeling a little better. My headache is gone, but…"

She seemed to hesitate before continuing.

"That man, he can be so… _frustrating_ at times. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother putting up with him."

Brian wasn't exactly in the right mindset to be having this conversation with Lois, but he knew he couldn't just get up and walk away. She needed someone to talk to, and well, he was the only individual available at the moment. He let out an inaudible sigh before responding as kindly as he could muster.

"Lois, I understand that dealing with Peter isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world, but you and I both know that the reason you put up with it is because you love him."

The woman laughed sarcastically.

"Well, of course I love him. I wouldn't have married the moron if I didn't love him, but does that mean that I should just put up with whatever he throws at me? Shouldn't there come a point when enough is enough!?"

Brian wasn't sure where this was going, but if the tone in Lois's voice was any indication, it wasn't a good place.

"Wha-What are you talking about, Lois?"

There was an awkward pause as the dog waited for the woman to respond. In actuality, it only lasted for a few seconds, but to Brian, it felt like much longer than that. Lois sighed.

"I'm talking about a divorce, Brian."

The canine's eyes went wide. He hadn't seen this coming at all.

"L-Lois, y-you can't be serious."

He had heard the woman joke about this before, or at least they had seemed like jokes at the time, but after all her and Peter had been through, he would have never imagined Lois speaking like this, even if he had wished for it in the past. The two Griffin parents separating was unthinkable. The dog's mind was suddenly going a mile a minute due to this sudden revelation, and he was barely able to pay attention as Lois responded.

"I've been thinking about it for a while now. It's not like I want it to come to that, but I just don't know how much more I can take."

Brian raised his paws up, urging the woman to stop speaking.

"Stop, Lois, listen. Like I said, I understand that Peter can be frustrating at times, but…just listen to yourself. You two love each other, you've both proven that time and time again, sticking with each other through thick and thin. You two can make it through anything. You're just angry with him right now, but I know if you just take some time to cool down and think this through, you'll realize that you really don't mean what you're saying."

The woman just stared at him for a moment, seeming to really think about what the dog had said. After a moment, she smiled lightly.

"Maybe you're right, Brian. Maybe I'm just too angry to think clearly right now. That…that makes me feel a lot better about things. Thank you."

She reached over and began to pet him on the head in a show of gratitude, something the dog used to enjoy a great deal, but now, it just made him feel awkward knowing how he used to feel about Lois and who he was currently with. He wasn't really enjoying it. He really just wanted Lois to stop, but he couldn't exactly let her know that. He squirmed a little, feeling really uncomfortable. Suddenly, the phone rang, prompting Lois to get up to answer it and bringing a close to the awkward petting session. The dog sighed in relief.

_I know she was just being nice, but that was just really unpleasant._

Well, at least he knew he was completely over Lois. That was one less thing to worry about in his life he supposed. As he began to get comfortable again, he couldn't help but make out the sound of Lois's voice talking animatedly over the phone. Whoever she was talking to obviously had some good news, maybe good enough to bring Lois out of her morning funk so that she wouldn't need to have another conversation like that again. He laughed under his breath.

_When have I ever been that lucky?_

And the first answer that popped into his mind was an image of Stewie which he couldn't help but smile at. It was true, he didn't have the best of luck, but simply having Stewie in his life more than made up for that.

_Scratch that, I'm the luckiest guy in the world._

He heard the phone being hung up and then, the sound of Lois coming back into the living room. She rejoined him on the couch, and Brian immediately noticed the new, lively grin on her face. Without even waiting for Brian to ask, the woman immediately spoke up.

"That was Carol."

The dog slowly nodded his head, not wanting to seem callous but still not really sure why he should care.

"Ok. What did she call for?"

Lois crossed her legs and began explaining.

"Well, you know her birthday is next week right?"

Brian wasn't sure if Lois was being serious with that question. He had no reason to know when her sister's birthday was. God, did the woman actually think that he kept tabs on her entire family like that. He just chose not to say anything and waited for her to continue. It wasn't even a couple of seconds later before she did.

"Anyway, she just called to tell me that her husband is going to be throwing her a huge birthday party this Friday at their mansion, and of course, me and Peter are invited! She said that we could bring the kids, too, but I'm thinking that it might be good idea if me and Peter went alone, you know, give us a good night out together."

Now understanding what Lois was so excited about, Brian couldn't help but feel a little happy for her, too, considering how upset she had been just a couple of minutes earlier.

"Oh, well, that's great. I'm sure you guys will have a great time."

The woman nodded her head before shooting up off the couch.

"Oh! I need to get going! I was so preoccupied with this morning that I had almost forgotten that I need to get some shopping done before it's time to pick Stewie up this afternoon. Not to mention, there a few other things that I need to do around town, and I need to get ready for the day and everything!"

Before she could rush up the stairs, Brian called to her.

"You know, Lois, you don't need to rush. I'd be more than happy to pick Stewie up later. You take all the time you need."

The woman smiled at him.

"That would actually be a really big help. Me and Bonnie are actually going out to take care of errands together, and it would be great if I didn't need to rush her. Thank you, Brian. I don't know what I'd do without you."

With those final words, she proceeded up the stairs at a normal pace. Brian folded his arms behind his head, satisfied that he had been given an opportunity to get Stewie from preschool and that it still only seemed like he wanted to help Lois out. Now that she was gone, his mind began to refocus its attention on what he had been thinking about earlier only now he wasn't feeling as bad about everything. He had done terrible things, and he still felt guilty over them. However, the main thing he was feeling now was gratitude that Stewie loved him enough to stick with him through all that bullshit. He looked over at the empty space beside the couch and frowned slightly. He found himself wishing that Stewie was there so that he could wrap an arm around the tyke and hold him tightly.

_It's barely been an hour, and I'm already missing him._

He had to laugh at that. He'd never had such a constant need to have someone near him.

_Perhaps I should have taken him up on his offer to just hang out for the day._

He was half joking. He knew he had made the right call about going ahead and taking Stewie to preschool, but he couldn't help but wonder what they would be doing right now if he had just decided to fuck all and let the kid play hooky. They just might have to do that one of these days. He mulled over these thoughts for a bit longer before deciding he had wasted enough time, so he hopped off the couch and went to retrieve his laptop, feeling a sudden inspiration to write. By the time he had returned and had booted up his laptop, Lois had made her way downstairs, now carrying a purse and looking ready to go out and get her tasks done for the day. She walked over to the door, opened it, and turned back toward Brian.

"I'll try not to be too long, but I can't make any promises. Just don't forget about my baby. Ok."

The dog looked over and had to keep himself from sounding irked at the mere notion that he would forget to pick up the kid.

"I'm not going to forget about Stewie. I mean, I love the little guy."

That last sentence had come out unexpectedly. He knew Lois had no way of knowing what he had really meant, but he couldn't help but get a little nervous as he waited for her response. The woman just smiled in approval.

"I know you do, and he loves you, too. It's good that he has a decent male role model in his life. Lord knows, Peter will never be that."

The dog just chuckled nervously, not really liking the comparison that was being made at the moment. He couldn't really think of anything to say in response, but luckily, Lois left it at that and walked out of the house. He pulled at his collar and cleared his throat.

_She thinks I'm some sort of father figure? Well, that's just plain…disturbing to think about. Oh, if she only knew just how off the mark she was with that comparison. As if I needed another layer of weirdness in my relationship with Stewie._

The dog decided to just shake those thoughts away and opened up the document that contained his latest story to begin work on his writing. Before long he was enveloped in his work, mind racing with ideas and fingers flying across the keyboard, but he also made sure to stop and check the time every now and then, practically counting down the minutes until he was able to go get Stewie.


	2. Part II

Stewie was sitting in a group with the other children, listening to the teacher as she explained which colors were which. In truth, this whole exercise was just agonizing for the child, being forced to participate in such simple-minded activities, watching the other children actually have to try and remember which color was fucking blue. He just did not belong here…at all, but since his idiotic family just couldn't comprehend the fact that the baby of the house was actually a lot smarter than they gave him credit for, this is what he had to put up with. The teacher was now pointing to a cherry, asking everyone what color it was. After a moment, Stewie had to just roll his eyes at the silence before shouting.

"Red! It's red you morons!"

The teacher looked in his direction and congratulated him in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Very good, Stewie! Now, come get something out of the prize box."

The infant reluctantly got up to his feet to go and retrieve his "prize". The prize box was a joke. All it was was a box full of old candy and bouncy balls, so Stewie was far from excited when he reached his hand blindly into the box. After a second of digging around, he got a good grasp on what felt like a small cardboard box of some kind. He pulled the item out and was pretty surprised at what he saw.

"Sweethearts?"

Indeed, he had wound up with a box of the traditional Valentine's Day candy.

"Aww. Sweethearts for the sweetheart."

The boy wanted to strangle the woman for saying such a thing, but luckily for her, he was too focused on the candy to worry about it too much. How odd that out of all the things he could have gotten, he'd wound up with this. It was fitting, very fitting.

_I wonder if Brian would share them with me._

All he could do was stand there staring at the candy, completely lost in his own thoughts.

"Alright, Stewie, you can go back and have a seat now."

The child was brought back to reality by the teacher's voice. He put the candy in his pocket before turning to go sit back down with the others. All the other children just looked at him jealously, and as soon as he sat down, a boy to his side addressed him in a whiny voice.

"It's not fair. You always get to get something from the prize box."

Stewie just scoffed at this and decided to just ignore the other child. The teacher was now pointing to a picture of grass, once again asking what color the object was. There was only silence. Stewie shook his head and looked at the clock on the wall. It almost seemed as if the seconds were ticking by a lot slower than usual. The child clenched his fists in frustration.

_Come on! Damn you! Stop going so slow! I need to get out of her! I need to get back to Brian!_

The clock ignored his demand and continued its agonizingly slow ticking. Defeated, Stewie turned his attention back to the lesson. Before long, the teacher moved on to story time, and Stewie looked at the clock again. Only a few minutes had gone by. He sighed.

_Of course, today, of all days, had to be a slow day._

He took his candy out of his pocket with no intention of eating it. Instead, he just held it tightly, anxious to see how Brian would react when he finally got to share his prize with the dog. While everyone around him became engrossed in the story being told, Stewie's mind was completely absent from it, totally consumed with thoughts of his love.

_I hope he likes them._

* * *

Brian ended up getting quite a lot of work done. He hadn't been so inspired in a very long time, and it felt great to be able to write almost nonstop like he had just done. He had recently put his laptop away, feeling that he had reached a decent enough stopping point for the time being, and gotten himself a bite to eat for lunch. Now, he was watching a program on TV to pass the time until he had to go pick up Stewie. It was just some mindless action movie that he had jumped into about midway through its runtime and knew he wasn't going to have time to finish in the half an hour it would take for Stewie to be released from preschool, the perfect thing to waste some time with. By the time the final act of the movie with the big showdown between the hero and the villain began, it was time for him to leave. He cut off the television, shot off the couch, and left the house. In a flash, he was in his Prius and pulling out onto the road. He was hoping that, by the time he got back home with the kid, the house would still be empty so they could have the place to themselves for a little while. He had no idea when Lois was going to return. Peter was at work and wouldn't be back until the evening. As for Chris and Meg, they wouldn't be arriving from school until another hour and a half or so. As long as Lois didn't show up, that would make plenty of time for them to enjoy themselves. He was so busy thinking about these things that he barely realized it when he had pulled up into the line intended for cars that were picking the kids from preschool. The line moved along fairly quickly, and soon, he was up front. One of the staff members smiled at him, recognizing him as the guy who always picked up Stewie, and opened the passenger side door for the child, ushering the boy in. Stewie climbed into his car seat and the staff member buckled him in.

"Have a good day, Stewie. We'll see you tomorrow."

Even if Stewie had felt like responding, he wouldn't have gotten the chance since the person immediately shut the door after bidding him farewell, prompting Brian to take off with his precious cargo. Stewie looked over at the dog who seemed like he was in a hurry to get back to the house.

"What's the rush, Bry?"

The dog gave him a sideways glance and smirked.

"Lois isn't at the house right now. It's empty."

Upon hearing this news, Stewie immediately understood why the canine was in such a rush and he began to get excited. This was the first time, since they'd gotten together, that they'd had an opportunity to be home alone with each other, free to openly express their love and affection as they saw fit without having to worry about the people in other rooms.

"Oh, reeeaaaalllly now?"

Brian nodded his head and smiled. Stewie quirked his lip and looked at the canine seductively, thinking about all the things he'd been wanting to do with Brian ever since they'd first hooked up.

"And what exactly will we be getting up to while the family is away? Hmmm?"

The dog shook his head and laughed, quickly recognizing the wheels turning in his partner's head as the boy's mind ran wild with possibilities.

"Well, I mean, I didn't really have anything particular in mind. I'm just happy to have some quality time with you. I don't even know how much time we'll have, so whatever you're conjuring up in that demented little brain of yours, don't get too excited about it because I highly doubt we'll have a chance to take things too far."

He reached over and took the child's hand.

"Let's not push things. Ok, Stewie?"

Stewie was a little disappointed by Brian's reluctance to go too far, but at the same time, he understood that the dog had every right to be cautious about their relationship. Ever since he'd had his first taste of what it was like to be with Brian intimately, he couldn't help but want Brian like crazy and be eager to experience that again, but he could respect Brian's desire to protect what they had. Not that Stewie wanted anybody to find out or anything. He was a just a little less worried that anyone in his family was smart enough to put the pieces together and was sure that keeping this thing a secret would be child's play. After all, he'd kept much bigger secrets from them all his life. Maybe, in time, Stewie could help the dog not to be so worried about everything. If so, he hoped it would be soon. After considering these things, the infant dropped the seductive look and smiled warmly at his partner.

"Ok. I won't do anything you're not comfortable with."

Satisfied with the boy's response, the dog gave Stewie's hand an affectionate squeeze.

"Thanks, Kid."

The next couple of minutes were passed in a tender silence until Brian pulled into their driveway and they both got out of the vehicle to go inside. Once inside the house, Stewie went right for the couch to have a seat as he waited for Brian to shut the door and join him. The dog walked over and took a seat beside the boy before wrapping an arm around him and pulling the tyke into a warm hug. Stewie returned the hug, nuzzling the side of his face into the canine's fur covered torso. Brian leaned down and deeply inhaled the baby's scent. He moaned lowly and kissed the top of the child's head.

"Oh God, I missed you so much."

Stewie looked up at Brian and leaned his head upward for a kiss, which the dog accepted eagerly. Their lips connected and a fire was ignited within the dog that had remained dormant every since his first time being with Stewie. The canine's tongue pushed its way past the boy's lips, into his mouth, and began caressing every surface it could reach. Stewie just went completely limp, completely overcome by the sensation of Brian kissing him so fiercely, and allowed the dog to do whatever he wanted for the time being. Brian pulled the boy into his lap, bringing the child closer and deepening their kiss. He began running his paws up and down the child's back, massaging the infant as he continued to explore the baby's mouth, but after a while, he needed to come up for air. He pulled away and was extremely pleased by what he saw, a completely dazed Stewie. He chuckled deeply and gave the boy another peck on the lips. While the infant was still trying to pull himself together, Brian moved to lie down on the couch, making sure to keep his hold on Stewie so that the boy would end up on top of him. As he was moving, he felt something in the child's pocket poke into his side.

"Ouch! What the hell was that?"

Brian's sudden outburst brought Stewie back to his senses. He looked down at the dog in confusion before remembering what he had gotten at preschool.

"Oh! I had almost forgotten!"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the box of Sweethearts. Brian tilted his head at them.

"How did you get those?"

Stewie rolled his eyes, more so at the answer than the question.

"I got them at preschool for knowing what color a fucking cherry is."

The dog laughed, beyond amused at the child's annoyance.

"Alright, then, so what color is a cherry?"

The boy just stared at him, mouth open and unsure how to respond to the dog's question.

"You can't be serious."

Brian just smirked at him.

"What? Did you forget already?"

Stewie crossed his arms, not sure whether to be offended or not.

"What the hell are you talking about!? I know what the color of a cherry is! I'm a fucking genius!"

The dog nodded his head and ran a finger along the infant's cheek. Despite his irritation with the mutt, Stewie couldn't help but shiver at the touch, and Brian was reveling in his ability to control the boy.

"Alright then, Mr. Genius, I'll ask again. What color is a cherry?"

The baby realized it was useless to fight the mutt and sighed in defeat before whispering through his teeth.

"Red."

Brian cuffed a paw to his ear and leaned in closer.

"Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that."

Stewie gave his partner a dirty before speaking again, this time in a normal tone of voice.

"Cherries are red."

The dog smiled warmly at him and patted his back.

"Good job."

Stewie pulled away from the dog's paw.

"You're a real jackass you know that."

Brian chuckled and pulled the boy down so that the child was lying on top of him, belly to belly.

"Oh, come on, I was just messing with you, Stewie. You're just so cute when you're upset."

The child didn't respond to this, instead choosing to ignore the canine and get back to the topic he had been on before the dog had went off on his random power trip.

"Anyway, I was going to ask you if you wanted to share my candy, but now, I'm not too sure I want to share them with you."

Brian knew Stewie wasn't being serious about that last part and reached over to take the box from the infant's hand. Without protest, Stewie handed the box to the dog who proceeded to open it up, reach in, and hand the boy a piece of candy. Stewie smiled at him and accepted the little candy heart. He looked at it to see what it said.

**Cutie Pie**

He blushed, quickly popping the candy into his mouth and hoping that Brian hadn't had time to read it. Next, Brian reached in for his own piece of candy. He pulled out the heart and looked to see what it said.

**My Pet**

He laughed to himself and then, ate the candy before Stewie could ask him what it said. This continued for the next several minutes. Stewie would take a piece, then Brian, and neither one of them ever made reference to the various sayings. Once the candy was gone, Stewie repocketed the box and laid his head on the dog's chest sighing happily and savoring the affectionate contact. He turned his head upwards to face the dog's.

"This is nice."

Brian ran his paw up and down the length of Stewie's back and nodded his head.

"Yeah."

He pushed his feet against the couch to scoot his head up against the arm rest and get in a more comfortable position. They stayed like that for a good while, and Brian began to feel his eyelids getting heavy. He fought to stay awake, but it seemed hopeless. Just when it seemed like he was about to drift off, he heard the sound of a car pulling up in a driveway. His eyes shot open, and he realized that Lois had probably just returned from shopping with Bonnie. He looked down at Stewie to warn the child but found that the boy was fast asleep in his arms.

_Shit!_

He wasn't sure what to do, but it ended up not mattering since Lois was opening the door within the next second. The dog closed his eyes. The door flew open, and he froze.

"Brian, there are groceries over in Bonnie's car. Could you…"

The voice stopped, and Brian waited to see what Lois's reaction would be to seeing him and Stewie in such an affectionate embrace.

"Aww! Well, aren't you two adorable!"

This was not the reaction Brian had been expecting. He slowly opened his eyes and let out a fake yawn, making it seem like he had been asleep, also. He looked over at Lois.

"Oh, hey, Lois. You just get back?"

The woman nodded, grinning from ear to ear.

"I was going to ask you to help with the groceries in Bonnie's car, but I'm not sure if I want to interrupt this beautiful Kodak moment."

The dog reached up and scratched behind his neck nervously.

"Yeah, about that, I guess Stewie was pretty tuckered out after preschool. We sat down on the couch, and he sort of just toppled over onto me. I didn't want to disturb him, so I, you know, just sort of laid back, and before long, I was out, too."

Brian thought he did an admirable job of explaining how he and Stewie had ended up in such a position, and judging by Lois's reaction, he was right.

"Aww. My poor little man is so tired. Here…"

She reached down to pick up the infant.

"I'll take him upstairs."

Brian reluctantly allowed Lois to retrieve Stewie. As the woman turned to head upstairs, he called out to her.

"I'll go ahead and get those groceries in for you."

He didn't get a response since Lois was too busy whispering baby talk at her sleeping son, and once she was all the way up the stairs, he exhaled a sigh of relief. When Lois had walked through that door, he had been terrified. He wasn't exactly sure what he had been terrified of since there was no reason for Lois to assume that there was something wrong with the way he had been lying with Stewie, but he was pretty sure that he had never been so worried in his life. Admittedly, it was kind of ridiculous if not just plain paranoid, but he figured it was better to be paranoid about things and keep them secret than too carefree and having someone find out. He was taking a huge risk being with Stewie, but he knew it was worth it. With these thoughts in mind, he got off the couch and went to retrieve the groceries Lois had purchased. He walked next door and saw Bonnie retrieving her own groceries from her vehicle. She waved at him. Brian waved back.

"Hey, Bonnie."

He looked in the car and saw about five bags worth of groceries.

"So, which of these are Lois's?"

Bonnie shut the door and motioned towards the bags she was carrying.

"Oh, these are all the things I bought. Just grab everything else."

Brian listened to the woman and retrieved the other bags before shutting the door and allowing Bonnie to lock the car.

"Alright, then. Thanks, Bonnie. See you around."

The woman smiled at him before turning around to enter her house. Brian walked back over to his own house and brought all the groceries into the kitchen. By this time, Lois was already downstairs again, and Brian couldn't help but notice that she now had a piece of paper in her hands. He set the bags onto the table and pointed toward the paper.

"What's that?"

Lois smiled at him and handed him the paper.

"I found it in Stewie's pocket when I was putting him in his crib."

Brian took the paper and saw that it was a picture from a coloring book. It was a picture of a boy playing with his dog that Stewie had obviously colored while he was away. Brian smiled.

"This is really good."

Lois nodded her head.

"I think it was meant for you."

Brian had a feeling that Lois was right, and decided he was going to have to go upstairs and put this picture with his things later. All of a sudden, he felt Lois reaching down to pet him on the head, and that awkward feeling from earlier came back in full force. This time Brian just pulled away.

"I'm, uh, gonna go upstairs. Let me know when the others start coming back."

Without waiting for a response, Brian turned to exit the kitchen and head for Stewie's room, eager to get out of that room alone with Lois. He wasn't sure what was going on, but she had been acting extra affectionate around him all day. He was hoping that she was just in a weird mood and that things would go back to normal really soon because if Lois was going to start acting like that all the time, then he wasn't sure he wanted to be alone with her at all anymore.

_You've come a long way from pining at her feet, Brian_

Breaking away from that train of thought, the dog entered the baby's room and walked over to a cardboard box sitting in the corner to put the picture away. After that, he walked over to the crib and curled up beside it. He had no intention of going to sleep, but Stewie's mere presence was too much of a comfort to pass up. Everything just felt right in this room, and the dog found himself thinking that this was a feeling that he would never get tired of.

* * *

By the time dinner had rolled around, Stewie had awakened and joined the rest of the family downstairs. Brian had left the baby's room a couple of hours ago, after having first lied down by the boy's crib, after Lois had done as she was asked and informed him about Chris and Meg's arrival. Peter had come home soon afterwards, and now, the entire family was together at the dinner table, engaging in everyday conversation. Brian and Stewie didn't pay them much mind, too lost in their own little world to care about the others too much. It wasn't until Lois spoke up and addressed the table that someone else got their attention.

"So, everyone, Aunt Carol called me this morning and told me that, since her birthday is coming up, Mayor Adam West is going to be throwing her a big party, and naturally, she invited me and Peter, so your father and I are going to be going out this Friday night."

Peter looked surprised by this news.

"I don't remember ever agreein' to go with you to some lame party."

The woman shot the man a look that could kill but quickly covered it up with a plastic smile as she replied.

"Well, I didn't figure I'd have to ask my adoring husband to attend my sister's birthday party with me."

Peter just shrugged.

"Eh, what the hell. I ain't got nothin' planned for Friday. Joe's going out of town, and Quagmire's got a date with some broad. All I got to say is that there better be some good food over there."

While it was obvious that Lois wasn't pleased with Peter's couldn't-care-less attitude, she did seem to accept that it was probably the best response she was going to get out of him. Just when it seemed like the adults were done talking, Meg spoke up.

"Mom, can I go to Aunt Carol's party? I don't want to be stuck here on Friday night."

Chris finished chewing the food that was in his mouth before retorting.

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a loser, you'd have places to go on Friday instead of staying home all the time."

The girl turned towards her brother, raising her voice as she spoke.

"Oh! I don't see you with any plans for the weekend, so you don't have any right to judge! In fact, do you have  _any_  friends Chris!?"

Chris folded his arms.

"Of course I have friends. You just never see them because they don't want to be anywhere near your fat ass."

Meg gasped.

"M- _My_ fat ass! Look who's talking, Lardo!"

It wasn't long before the two siblings were yelling incomprehensibly at one another, exchanging various insults and going on and on about how terrible of a person the other was. Their fight didn't last long, though, because Lois quickly interjected with her own shout that put the two teenagers to shame.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone looked over at Lois, and everything went quite as they waited to see what she would do. After drawing in a breath, she continued.

"I am  _not_ in the mood for this right now! If you two want to fight like that, leave the table!"

Though it seemed like their fight had been forgotten, both Chris and Meg, quickly scarfed down what was left of their dinner and left to go upstairs to their respective rooms, fearing the wrath of their mother. After that outburst, the tension in the air became unbearable, so Brian and Stewie decided the best course of action was to follow Chris and Meg's example and get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. They finished what little food they had left and pushed their plates away. Brian stood up and picked up Stewie from his highchair.

"Oh, boy. That dinner was really good, Lois. I'm stuffed, and it looks like Stewie is finished, too, so I'll just go ahead and take him with me if that's alright."

The woman didn't say anything, but the look she was giving the dog made it seem like she was ok with his request. Feeling it was safe to do so, Brian turned around and walked out of the kitchen at a brisk pace. He decided to just go ahead and head up to Stewie's room, possibly just end the day there by getting the kid ready and going to bed. Stewie probably wasn't that tired since he'd gotten up from a nap not too terribly long ago, but Brian figured the child wouldn't mind settling down for the night with him. As the canine was making his way up the stairs, he heard a sound of disgust come from the infant in his arms.

"Good Lord, these people become more and more unbearable every day, I swear."

Brian didn't look down at the boy, instead deciding it was best to keep his focus on where he was going, but he did sigh before responding.

"I care about this family, but sometimes…I wouldn't mind if they just decided to take off for a day or two."

He felt the boy's fingers beginning to run through his fur, obviously trying to coerce him into something.

"Well, Peter and Lois are going to be gone this Friday. Maybe, we could take advantage of that."

The dog shook his head.

"I don't know, Kid. Chris and Meg are still going to be here, and while we might be able to avoid any suspicion from Chris, I doubt Meg would just ignore it if she found us doing something intimate together."

At this, the baby sighed in frustration.

"Well, then, let's just take off somewhere! I have those robots of us! They'd never find out!"

The child had a point. They'd been gone before without the family realizing it. Maybe, the two of them just needed to take off for the day sometime for their first proper outing together. The thought was nice, but still, Brian wanted to be the one to plan out their first actual date. After all, he was the one who had a lot to make up for, not Stewie. Brian wanted it to be something special, something he'd planned for his partner, a surprise even. That couldn't happen if he needed to use Stewie's technology to make it possible. Maybe the child was right about this Friday night being a good opportunity for them. Sure, Chris and Meg would be there, but if he could talk to them, convince them to find someplace to go that night, there would be nothing to stop him and Stewie from having a night to themselves. The dog pulled himself away from his thoughts and stopped at the door to Stewie's room. Before entering, he looked down at the tyke and smiled.

"Just be patient, Kid. I promise it'll be worth the wait."

With that, he opened the door, entered the room, and the two of them got ready for bed.

* * *

Later that night, while Stewie was sleeping beside him, Brian decided that he was going to try and see if he could arrange for Friday to be their date night, too. As soon as Chris and Meg got in from school, he was going to have a talk with each of them to see what could be worked out. With any luck, by Friday night, he'd have everything all set up to surprise the kid. He smiled, imagining the look Stewie would probably have on his face at the realization that he was finally going to get to go out with the dog of his dreams. The idea of bringing that kind of joy to his partner filled his heart with an intense feeling of pride. He knew how much Stewie wanted this, how frustrated the boy got with his cautious attitude when it came to their relationship, but he was determined to make it all worth it for the child. He yawned. His mind was still a buzz with ideas, but he knew he needed to get some sleep. He could think about his plan more tomorrow. He nuzzled his nose against the boy's neck before giving it an affectionate lick. The child moaned in his sleep and pushed himself in closer to the dog. Brian chuckled at this and gave the infant one last kiss on the top of his head before snuggling into Stewie, closing his eyes, and going to sleep.

* * *

It was the middle of the day. Chris and Meg had gotten in from school not too long ago, Lois was downstairs folding laundry, and Brian had just left Stewie alone in his room, playing a game with Rupert and some action figures. The dog walked down the hall to the door that led into Chris's room and knocked. Immediately, he heard the male teenager's voice.

"Come in."

Brian walked into Chris's room to find the young man sitting on his computer. What he also found completely blew him away. One of the walls was covered in photos and newspaper clippings with strings connecting all the items together. It didn't take Brian long to figure out that the wall had something to do with Peter and Chris's crazy investigation into who busted up the car. The dog shook himself out of his daze and proceeded to walk over to stand beside Chris.

"Hey, Chris. What you up to?"

The teenager turned around in his computer chair to face the canine.

"Oh, hey, Brian. Nothin' much. I was just playin' a game. I needed a break from all the research Dad was making me do. Me and him are really close to figuring out who broke into the garage!"

Brian just stared at him, amazed that things had gone this far, but just as he was about to get distracted with all the questions running through his brain, Chris brought the subject back to what he had originally come to discuss.

So, anyway, what do you need?"

After a little consideration, Brian decided that his best bet was to just tell Chris the truth, well, some of the truth.

"Look, I need a huge favor Chris."

Brian paused for a moment to see if the young man was going to say anything. When he didn't, the dog continued.

"You know how Peter and Lois are going to be gone all Friday night?"

Chris nodded his head, indicating that he knew what Brian was talking about and prompting Brian to continue.

"Well, you see, I was hoping to be able to arrange a little date for me and this new person I'm with, and I'd like to be able to bring them back here at some point. The only problem is I'm not sure if I could do that with you and Meg here, so I was wondering, is there any place at all you could go Friday night so me and my date could have the house to ourselves?"

Chris appeared to be listening to Brian carefully, and once the canine was finished explaining, the teenager took a moment to think about Brian's request. After a moment, he just shrugged.

"I'd love to help you out, Brian, but I can't think of any place for me to go. I mean, Mr. Herbert says that his house is always open, but that would probably just be weird if I were to just all of a sudden ask to spend the night there."

At the next second, Brian cut Chris off with an offer.

"I'll give you twenty-five dollars to stay at Herbert's place Friday night."

Chris's eyes went wide.

"Se-Seriously!"

The dog nodded his head, and Chris's face just lit up at the prospect of getting paid.

"Alright then! You've got yourself a deal, Brian!"

The two shook on it, and Brian made sure to get one more point across before the deal was sealed.

"But I'll only pay you the day after. Got it?"

Chris shook his head.

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! That's cool. I'll make sure to go over tomorrow and ask Mr. Herbert if I can stay over."

Satisfied, Brian let go of Chris's hand and turned to leave the room. Before he left, though, he turned back one finale time to address the young man.

"Oh, one more thing, let's keep this between us. There's no reason that Peter and Lois need to know about our arrangement."

Without waiting for Chris to respond, Brian exited the room and closed the door behind him. Next, he walked across the hall to Meg's door. He knocked and waited for a response.

"Who is it?"

The dog cleared his throat before speaking up loud enough to be heard through the door.

"It's Brian. Can I come in?"

The dog heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door before seeing it open a crack and Meg looking at him suspiciously.

"Why do you need to come in?"

Brian smiled at her warmly, hoping to show that he had nothing but good intentions.

"I just need to talk to you about something. It's…important."

Meg continued staring him down for a few more seconds before her expression softened and she opened the door the rest of the way.

"Alright. Come in."

The dog sighed under his breath in relief. For a moment, it seemed like Meg wasn't going to give him the opportunity to explain what he wanted, and he really wanted everything to work out. With the green light given, Brian walked into the girl's room and took a seat on her bed. Deciding not to waste any time, he just jumped right into it.

"Look Meg, I have a huge favor to ask of you. Peter and Lois are going to be gone all Friday night, and I was hoping that I could bring a date over here that night. The thing is it would be really nice if we could have the house to ourselves, so I was wondering, is there anywhere, anywhere at all you could go Friday night, so me and my date can be alone?"

Meg was silent for a moment, thinking about what she had just been told, but before long, a look of anger spread across her face and she responded.

"Wait a second! You're trying to kick me out of my own house just so you and one of your dumbass girlfriends can have the place to yourselves!? That's what's so important!?"

Brian couldn't help but get a little irritated by Meg's reaction, but he kept his cool as he replied.

"Look. Me and this person we don't get much alone time as it is, and I was wanting to do something really special for them Friday."

He sighed.

"It's not like it has been in the past. I really do care about this person. They're…special to me. They make me happy for a change, and I'm sorry if what I said offended you, but I wasn't trying to kick you out. I was just asking for a favor, nothing more."

After hearing Brian's words and how serious he sounded, the anger faded from Meg's face. She walked over and sat beside the dog on the bed.

"I've never seen you this way before."

There was an awkward silence that lasted for about a minute before Meg sighed in defeat.

"Alright, listen, I shouldn't have snapped at you. Out of all the people in this house, you're the only one who actually treats me decently most of the time, so I guess, if this is really that important to you, I can text Ruth and see if I can stay over at her place Friday night. I don't exactly like going over there anymore, though. Ever since she got her tongue ripped out in Paris, interacting with her has just been awkward, but she's still my friend and it's the best place I can think of. Just know that you owe me big time after this."

She smiled at the dog, and Brian smiled back.

"Thanks, Meg. You have no idea how much this means to me."

The girl leaned over and gave him a hug, and Brian accepted it awkwardly. With that done, he hopped off of the bed and left the room. Once the door was shut he did a little fist pump in the air in an expression of victory. He couldn't believe it. Everything was actually coming together. Stewie was going to be so happy. With that thought, he remembered that he had left Stewie in his room playing and figured that, since he was done, it was time for him to rejoin his love. He walked back down the hall and into Stewie's room. Upon hearing him enter, the boy turned around and smiled at him. The dog smiled back and took a seat beside the infant on the floor.

"So, what are we playing?"

* * *

The next day, when Peter got home, he called a family meeting. Everyone knew that it was probably about the investigation, but they all shuffled into the living room anyway to hear what it was that Peter had to say. They all took a seat with Lois, Chris, and Meg taking the couch and Brian and Stewie taking a spot over on the floor. Once Peter was sure he had everyone's attention, he began.

"Family, it's been a long past several days, but mine and Chris's work has finally paid off. We've found the person who broke into our garage and messed up our car."

He paused, possibly expecting some sort of congratulations, but he was only greeted by silence. After an awkward couple of seconds, he began again.

"After some hard investigating, me and Chris have discovered that the person we're after lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her name is May Jayroe, and she used to live in Providence."

Another pause. More Silence. Peter cleared his throat.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Why would some woman who is currently living so far away come all the way back to Rhode Island just to vandalize our car?' Well, the answer is simple. Revenge! It turns out that I've met this May Jayroe before onetime while I was in a grocery store. She got angry at me for running into her shopping cart and spilling all of her items on the ground. She was pissed then, and I'm willing to bet that she's been pissed ever since, and one day, that anger just took over, so she tracked me down, broke into my garage, and smashed out the front windshield of my car, thinking that no one would ever suspect her of the crime. Well, as many do, she underestimated me, and I've decided that I'm leaving Friday to go confront her and settle this feud once and for all!"

Everyone but Chris practically had their jaws on the floor, but it was Brian and Lois who spoke up at the same time.

"WHAT!?"

Lois stood up from the couch.

"Peter, you can't just go out of state to harass someone you stupidly think vandalized your property! And, what about Carol!? I thought we were going to her party on Friday! Now, you're telling me this!?"

Peter folded his arms across his chest.

"Lois, this is more important than some stupid birthday party. This woman needs to be confronted about what she's done."

Lois growled in frustration.

"She didn't do  _anything_ , Peter! You're just pulling these conclusions out of your ass!"

It was at this point that Chris spoke up.

"Trust me, Mom. Me and dad covered every angle on this, and this woman is the culprit. I'm with Dad. She needs to be taught a lesson."

Lois sighed, exasperated.

"You know what? Fine. I'll go to Carol's party by myself, but you are  _not_  leaving to go to Cincinnati Friday. I will not allow you to take off just so you can harass some innocent woman about something as stupid as this. You can either stay here or go with me, but honestly, I could really care less at this point."

With that she turned to march up the stairs. Brian couldn't believe this. This was all wrong. His plan was ruined. There was no way he could risk taking out Stewie with Peter at the house. Peter may be a moron, but that didn't mean the guy wouldn't catch on to what was going on if he or Stewie were to slip up while the man was still in the house. No, this ruined everything, and it frustrated him to no end. Stewie had waited long enough, and if Brian had anything to say about it, he wasn't going to have to wait any longer.

_I have to fix this!_

Without another thought, he stood up and followed after Lois, leaving Stewie to wonder what he was doing. The dog walked up to the door to Peter and Lois's room and knocked. After a second, he heard Lois call out.

"Who's there?"

Brian could tell the woman was crying, and he began to feel nervous about going in. Eventually, his determination won out, and he answered the question.

"It's Brian."

A couple seconds later, the door opened and Brian stepped inside the room. He heard Lois shut and lock the door, and the two of them took a seat on the bed. Lois didn't say anything, so Brian started.

"Lois, I know you're upset, but I'm sure, if you just talk to Peter, the two of you will be able to work this out."

Lois shook her head violently.

"No, there's no talking with that man. It doesn't matter what I do. He'll always be an inconsiderate jackass."

Brian slowly reached his hand over to pat Lois on the back.

"I don't think that's true. Peter just has these times where he gets really obsessed with one particular thing. It's stupid, yeah, but this whole Cincinnati business is important to him. If you just sit him down and discuss this whole situation. I'm sure you can make him see some sense. He cares about you. I'm sure if he saw you like this, he'd realize how upset he's made you and apologize. Just talk to him."

The woman looked over at him with a blank expression. Brian had no idea what she was thinking, but it all became clear in the next second when she practically threw herself at him and began kissing him.

"Hmmm!?"

The canine's eyes shot open and he fought to release himself from Lois's grip. After about a minute, he was able to pull away, and he shouted at her in a whisper.

"Lois! What the hell are you doing!?"

The woman smiled at him seductively, and Brian felt sick to his stomach.

"Come on, Brian. Isn't this what you've always wanted? I've been realizing over the past couple of days that you're the perfect guy for me. I made a mistake marrying Peter. He treats me like shit, but you, you actually care about me, and you listen to me and do everything you can to make me feel better when I'm upset. Not to mention, how good you are with Stewie. You're a better father figure for him than his own father."

Brian held up his paws for her to stop. This was too much.

"Lois, you're not thinking straight right now. You're upset. You're looking for a way to get back at Peter, and I'll have no part in it!"

The woman scowled at him.

"Hmph! Right, because you were such a good friend that time we went to Martha's Vineyard together!"

Brian sighed, remembering the incident Lois was referring to.

"I…was in a bad place back then. It was wrong then, and it's still wrong now, only this time I'm actually at a place in my life where I'm able to finally see things clearly."

He looked at the woman sternly, hoping she'd get the message.

"I was never in love with you, Lois. It was just, at the time, you represented everything I thought I wanted in a partner. I was abandoned by my mother when I was barely a puppy, and when you came along, you filled a void that I'd never had anyone else to fill, but I was just misconstruing how I saw you to make you fit something I thought I needed, and I was wrong for that. You and Peter were meant for each other. You're going through a rough patch now, but I know you'll work it out eventually. You've survived too much together to give up now. Just…talk to the guy."

Lois seemed shocked by this response. She lowered her head and shook it.

"Get out, Brian."

The dog didn't need to be told twice. In a flash, he ran to the door, unlocked it, and left the room. He was surprised to find Stewie waiting outside for him.

_Oh, shit! I hope he didn't hear what happened in there!_

Brian waited for the kid to say something but the boy just stared, confused. Brian cleared his throat.

"I just wanted to make sure she was ok."

Stewie tilted his head at this.

"Is she?"

The dog's jaw fell open at the question.

"D-Do you really care?"

The baby shrugged.

"Do you?"

Brian couldn't tell if this was an interrogation or if the child really was just concerned on some level.

"Well, yeah. Lois is my friend. I don't like seeing her upset."

The infant just kept looking at him, examining his face before smiling lightly.

"Then, yes, I do care. I don't like it when you're upset, and if her being upset makes you upset, I hope she gets her shit together so you can stop worrying about her."

The dog smiled and laughed. That was probably one of the nicest the things the boy had ever said about his mother. Now that he knew Stewie wasn't upset with him, he began to relax and try to ignore what just happened between him and Lois.

"Come on, Kid. Let's go to your room."

He took the child's hand and led him away from the door. As he walked away, he hoped that Lois would heed his advice and try to work things out with Peter.

_I've done all I can do. It's up to them now._

He was upset about what just happened, but despite the weirdness of that situation, what really bothered him was the fact that his plan to get him and Stewie alone for a night had been destroyed. While with Stewie, he could get over the Lois thing, but the fact that he wasn't going to get to surprise the kid this Friday was something he just couldn't get past. He'd had his heart set on that, and now, there was no way it was going to work out.

_Sorry, Kid. I let you down._


	3. Part III

The following morning, Brian was downstairs trying to write but too upset about his failed plan to be able to concentrate on his work. He'd just gotten back from taking Stewie to preschool, and he was so focused on his own thoughts that he hardly noticed Lois coming downstairs to have a seat next to him. When he felt the couch shift and realized who was beside him, he tensed up. He tried to ignore her, but that became an impossible task once she started talking to him.

"I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have put you in that position."

This piqued the dog's interest. He looked up at her, showing that she had his attention now. She sighed.

"You were right, and you kept me from making a terrible mistake last night. I talked with Peter shortly after what happened between us. I didn't tell him what I did, but I did take your advice and explain how I've been feeling lately. Just like you said, he listened, even apologized, and we came to an agreement. He agreed to go with me to Carol's party, and I agreed to go with him to Cincinnati immediately afterwards. We'll be taking the kids to the party, so they can come, too. I said we could make it a kind of vacation weekend, which will be nice, but I'll also be able to be there to make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble with this woman that he's still convinced came to our house last weekend."

Despite still being irked with the woman, Brian couldn't help but let a small smile escape at this news. He actually had another chance to make things work.

"That's great, Lois. Do you need me to watch Stewie while you're all gone? I wouldn't mind doing that so you and the others won't have to worry about a baby on your trip. It would probably make things easier on all of you."

The woman laughed.

"What is it with you and Stewie?"

The dog chuckled nervously, making sure to word his answer carefully.

"Well, I care about the kid, and I like spending time with him. We just sort of…click."

Lois nodded her head.

"Yeah, you do. I guess it would help us out if you watched him over the weekend, but if you need anything, be sure to call me and let me know. I trust you with Stewie, but he can be a handful at times."

Brian just batted his hand at this.

"You have nothing to worry about. I know how to handle the kid."

This reply seemed to satisfy Lois, and in the next instant, she gave the dog a quick pat on the head before standing up to go off to another area of the house, most likely to do chores of some kind. Brian waited for her to leave before he allowed a huge grin to spread across his face. He'd been trying his hardest to contain it ever since Lois told him that the entire family was going to be leaving for the weekend. He couldn't believe how perfect this was. He had just given up hope on things working out for tomorrow, but now, he was in a situation even better than he could have ever imagined. There was nothing to stop him from taking Stewie out on one hell of a date tomorrow, and they'd also have the entire weekend to themselves which was sure to lead to many interesting and fun scenarios. It couldn't be any more perfect. He laughed joyously and picked up his cell phone. Now that he knew he could take Stewie out, there were things he needed to take care of.

* * *

It was recess, and all of the children were out playing on the playground, all of them except for Stewie. The child was off to the side, alone, lying down in some grass and looking up at the sky, thinking.

_What's up with Brian?_

Ever since last night, Stewie could tell that the dog had something on his mind that was bugging him. He was just that good at reading the mutt, but usually, he was able to deduce what it was fairly easily. This time was different, though. Stewie couldn't think of a single good reason for Brian to be bothered. There was that incident with Lois last night, but that woman had been upset many times without the dog worrying about it as much. And really, the child just didn't like the notion that Brian would get so hung up over a spat between Peter and Lois. He couldn't deny it. He had been jealous when Brian had ran after his mother last night. It certainly didn't help matters that, for the longest time, Lois had been his main competition in the game to win Brian's heart. It was scary because, even if Brian was his now, he hadn't even considered whether or not Brian still had feelings for Lois, and now that he was thinking it through, he couldn't ignore the fact that it was a possibility. He sighed. He didn't want to worry about this stuff. He wanted to trust Brian. It wasn't like the canine's attitude toward him had changed any after what happened last night. They'd hung out afterwards, snuggled in bed together, made out a little before going to sleep, and the dog had certainly seemed into it. Maybe, it was just the fact that he knew Brian was keeping something from him that was causing him to worry. Was that really a good enough reason, though? It could really be anything, not even a bad anything, just something mundane that happened to be occupying his partner's mind. If the dog wanted to talk about it, he would, it was as simple as that. There was nothing he could do except leave it at that for now.

_Damn it, Stewart! Get it together! If you keep nitpicking like this, you're going to drive yourself crazy! Brian loves you, and nothing is going to change that, not even that vile woman._

The boy smiled, allowing his mind to drop the issue for the moment and focus on more pleasant things.

"He loves me. He's done nothing but prove that every day that we've been together. I have no reason to doubt his feeling for me because, whenever we're alone, they're always on full display. I have to remember that. Brian loves me."

He sat up and stretched, getting the blood flowing back into his limbs before standing up. As soon as he'd gotten to his feet, he heard a voice coming from the playground.

"Hey, Stewie! Do wanna play hide and go seek!?"

The infant turned and saw a group of his classmates looking in his direction. He shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. Who's seeking?"

The baby began walking over toward the other children to join in their game, deciding that he had nothing better to do anyway.

* * *

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Brian spent the majority of the morning making preparations for tomorrow, and by the time he was mostly done, it was time to pick up Stewie from preschool. Unfortunately, Lois decided to go get Stewie, so the two of them didn't get the opportunity to share a tranquil car ride together. Then, for the rest of the day, Lois was wandering all around the house taking care of housework, which didn't provide them with much opportunity to sneak off alone anywhere. This was especially frustrating for Brian, since he was hoping to surprise Stewie tomorrow with the news that everyone was leaving for the weekend, and that ended up being really difficult since Lois kept trying to bring up the Cincinnati trip. There were some close calls, but by the time the others had gotten back and dinner was on the table, it seemed like the child was still oblivious about Lois's weekend plans. Now came the hard part. How would he keep Stewie from finding out at dinner, a time in which Lois would surely choose to tell Chris and Meg the news of their trip.

_This is going to be interesting._

Lois called everyone into the kitchen for dinner, and they all took a seat. Plates of food were passed out, and they all dug in before beginning to talk about their day. The wheels in Brian's head were spinning rapidly. He had to make sure that Lois didn't spill the beans about the trip this weekend, or at the very least, he had to make sure that Stewie was somewhere else when she did. He had no idea how he was going to do this, but he kept a close ear on the various conversations taking place, waiting for even a mention of weekend plans or big news. Stewie was saying something to him, but he was only partially listening, nodding his head on occasion and smiling at the child as an assurance that he wasn't being ignored. Then, he heard Lois ask for the kids' attention, and he knew it was now or never. On impulse, he began to cough loudly, cutting Lois off from her announcement and causing everyone to look over at him in concern. Noticing that he'd successfully distracted Lois from what she'd been talking about, Brian began to act like he was choking, banging on the table in fake panic before grabbing his throat to send the message home. Lois gasped.

"Oh my God! Peter, do something!"

Realizing his friend needed help, Peter hopped out of his seat and grabbed Brian to initiate a Heimlich maneuver. Brian kept up his act just a few more seconds before coughing up a piece of food he had been chewing on. He gasped for air and began breathing heavily like he needed to catch his breath. After a few seconds, he stopped, and there was an awkward silence. Peter was the first to speak.

"Holy crap! That came out of nowhere! Are you ok, Buddy?"

Brian nodded his head and pushed his half eaten plate to the side.

"Yeah. I think I'm fine. I am feeling a little light headed, though. I think I'm gonna head upstairs to lie down for a bit."

He stood up from the table and turned to leave the kitchen. As he crossed the threshold into the living room, he heard Lois.

"If you need anything, just let us know."

The dog didn't respond and proceeded to head up the stairs. Before long, he heard rapid footsteps approaching from behind. He turned his head and saw Stewie chasing after him with a look of worry.

_I knew it. I knew he'd follow after me._

Upon seeing the look on Stewie's face, Brian began to feel a little guilty for the stunt he'd just pulled. It had been a spur of the moment thing. He hadn't even really considered how it might affect Stewie. He took the boy's hand and guided him up the stairs to his room. Once they were alone, they took a seat on the floor. Brian smiled at the child and pulled him into his lap, hugging him.

"It's ok, Kid. I'm fine."

The boy put his arms over the dog's and leaned back into the embrace. He sighed.

"I-I know. You just…that was scary."

The dog chuckled awkwardly, trying to alleviate the mood a little.

"Oh come on, Stewie. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

The canine nuzzled the infant's neck, eliciting a giggle from the baby. The child turned around to meet the dog's eyes, smiling but trying to remain serious.

"You really shouldn't joke about that. I don't find the idea of you being taken away from me funny, and I'm going to do everything possible to make sure that that doesn't happen."

The dog smiled and laughed at the unwarranted seriousness of the infant's reply.

"I'm just trying to make you feel better. "

The boy rolled his eyes, amused.

"Well, you're doing a pretty good job of that."

Brian patted Stewie's back and began rubbing it.

"Good. I don't like it when you're upset."

The boy leaned forward into the dog's torso and sighed happily.

"Ok. Let's just forget about it."

For the next few minutes, Brian just held the boy, running his paws up and down the child's back in an effort to soothe him. The infant just laid there, hugging the canine and murmuring in appreciation, but after a while, he tilted his head up and kissed the dog hungrily. Brian was caught off guard at first, but he quickly relaxed and returned the kiss. They both fell to the side, and before long, they were making out on the floor, lost in a haze of lust and completely forgetting about the rest of the family still downstairs eating dinner. It wasn't until Stewie made a grab for the dog's groin that Brian snapped back to reality and realized how dangerous this was. The dog moaned lowly at the contact, wanting more than anything to keep going, but too concerned about the others downstairs to continue. He growled under his breath in frustration and grabbed the child's hand to halt it before pulling away. He took a moment to catch his breath before speaking in a whisper.

"We…we can't. Not right now."

The infant frowned at this and sighed.

"And here I was thinking that you would actually allow yourself to forget about them for a change."

He pulled his hand out of the dog's paw and pushed himself away, unable to hide the anger he was feeling. They both sat up, and Stewie turned to address the mutt.

"Brian, this is driving me crazy! I can't stand this!"

The canine flinched at the boy's shouting, surprised by the hostile reaction.

"I'm sorry, Kid. It's not like it's easy for me either. You think I like having to hold myself back all the time? I fucking hate it, but I do it because it's necessary. If someone were to find out about us…"

His voice trailed off as he began to think about the consequences he would endure if anyone were to discover the true nature of his relationship with Stewie. He looked at the child seriously, and the boy's look of anger fell away. The boy directed his gaze at the floor.

"I understand that, Brian. You have nothing to apologize for. I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at the fact that we have to hide this in the first place. There's nothing wrong with us being together, but still, we have to hide our love from the world because they'd never understand what we have."

The baby clenched his fists in frustration and kicked a toy that was lying on the floor.

"Why can't they see that I'm not some average baby, that I'm fucking smarter than the majority of the adult populace, that I have a right to be with whomever I damn well please! I shouldn't have to wait until adulthood to be with anyone, especially you."

The dog understood the child's frustration. This wasn't the first time that Stewie had complained about how the world perceived him, and as far as Brian was concerned, the kid had every right to be angry about such a thing. It wasn't fair to Stewie. He was special, and so much more than his family gave him credit for. Brian reached out and placed a paw on the boy's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"I don't know why they can't see that when I see it clear as day."

The baby smiled at his companion, and the anger began to fade away from his face again as he started to relax.

"Well, duh. Of course, you don't see me as a regular infant. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have fucked me last weekend if that were the case."

He smirked.

"Unless…you're into that sort of thing, in which case, I'm not really complaining."

At this, the dog pulled his hand away, jaw dropping at what the child had said. It took him a minute to come up with a coherent response.

"You're a sick bastard. You know that?"

The boy laughed gleefully at the canine's shocked expression and shrugged.

"Are you just now figuring that out?"

Brian shook his head.

"Oh, believe me, I've known from the minute I met you."

The two shared a laugh, and Brian stood up. He looked over at some of the toys on the floor and motioned toward them.

"You wanna, uh, play a game or something to kill some time."

The infant thought about the dog's offer for a second before nodding his head.

"Sure."

The child walked over to a Barbie doll, picked it up, and turned back to wink at the mutt.

"Let's play house."

* * *

By the time the others began to make their way upstairs, Brian and Stewie had been playing for a good couple of hours. When Lois walked in the room, they were in the process of discussing whether or not to add on a pool room or an exercise room onto their house using the money from their tax refund, with Brian wanting the pool room and Stewie wanting the exercise room. The two of them looked over at the woman who was intruding upon their discussion. Stewie glared. Brian smiled awkwardly. Lois just looked at Stewie.

"Come on, Baby. Time to get ready for bed."

The woman walked over and picked up the infant. Brian heard the boy sigh loudly, causing him to chuckle under his breath. He watched as Lois brought the kid over to the changing table to prepare him for the night. As Lois started undressing the boy, Brian found it really difficult to look away, and the seductive grin coming from the child made it obvious that he knew the dog was enjoying the show. The canine could feel himself blushing once the infant was in nothing but his diaper. He got up to leave, afraid of what would happen should he stay in the room for a moment longer. He walked toward the stairs but stopped when he heard Chris calling out to him.

"Hey, Brian. Can you come here for a second."

The dog turned around to respond.

"Uh, sure, Chris."

He walked up to the teenager.

"What's up?"

The boy looked at him seriously.

"Mom and Dad are taking me and Meg away for the weekend, so I don't have to stay at Herbert's tomorrow, but I did ask if I could stay, and he said I could, so I was going to hold up our end of the deal."

Brian saw what Chris was getting at.

"You're wondering if I'll still pay you."

Chris nodded his head. The dog shrugged.

"Sure. It's the least I can do since you were still willing to help me out. Let me just grab my wallet."

The canine left to go back into Stewie's room. He ignored the boy who was still in the process of getting dressed and walked over to a box that contained some of his things. He'd been keeping the box in Peter and Lois's room, but after he'd gotten together with Stewie, it seemed like a proper thing to do to move it into the child's room, a room they'd been sort of sharing for a while anyway. The dog opened the box and retrieved his wallet from on top of the pile of suits, extra collars, and dog toys he'd collected. With the wallet in hand, he closed the box and walked back out into the hall toward Chris. He opened the wallet and began counting out the cash.

"Let's see. That's ten, twenty, twenty-five."

He pulled the bills out and handed them to Chris.

"That's how much we agreed on, right?"

The teenager nodded happily and took the money eagerly.

"Yeah, that's right!"

He pocketed the money.

"Thanks, Brian!"

And with that, Chris walked into his room and shut the door. Brian walked back into Stewie's room to find the baby all ready for bed and Lois preparing to leave the room. He went over to put his wallet away before joining the two of them on the other side of the room. Lois kneeled down and gave the infant a kiss on top of his head, causing the child to frown in disgust.

"There we are. All ready for night-night."

She looked over at Brian.

"Make sure he's asleep within the next half-hour. I'm going to go get settled in for the night."

The dog nodded.

"Sure thing, Lois."

The woman smiled at the both of them before standing up and walking out of the room, leaving Brian and Stewie alone for the rest of the night. They picked up where they left off with their game and continued their discussion for the next half-hour or so. By the time bedtime had rolled around, they had settled on making their additional room an exercise room, Stewie's argument being that Brian would benefit both from getting in shape and never having to worry about his partner losing their fine figure. The dog had been sold on the idea after hearing that. With that matter settled, they ended their game. Brian picked Stewie up and put the child in his crib before cutting out the lights and joining his partner in the bed. After a quick kiss goodnight, the two of them snuggled into each other and fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

The next day proceeded fairly normally, aside from the fact that, for Brian, it seemed almost twice as long as any other day due to the excitement he was feeling over his upcoming surprise date with Stewie. After breakfast, Lois ended up taking Stewie to daycare before spending the rest of the morning out running errands, leaving Brian home alone. Under normal circumstances, he would have used his alone time to work on his writing, but he was too focused on his plans for the night to concentrate on his work. Instead, he ended up wasting the day away watching television until Lois came back with Stewie. The child didn't say anything about the other's going away, so Lois must not have said anything about their upcoming trip while she was with the boy, something Brian was worried would happen when Lois had said she'd take care of getting Stewie to and from preschool. Not long after they got back, Meg and Chris arrived home, and Peter soon followed. Now, it was the early evening and everyone was getting ready for Carol's party while Brian was with Stewie in the boy's room, playing a game of Battleship that the dog was losing horribly at. The child had just finished sinking Brian's third ship, and he was chuckling in amusement.

"Are you even trying, Brian? I've sunk your carrier, your cruiser, and your submarine already, and you've yet to even hit any of  _my_ ships."

The dog was actually starting to get a little frustrated by this point. He never seemed to be able to beat Stewie at this stupid game. He ignored the boy's gloating and called out his next target.

"G4."

The child faked a gasp.

"Oh my god! You actually…"

He looked at the dog and smirked.

"…missed again!"

The canine cursed under his breath, marked the space on his board, and waited for Stewie to take his turn. After a few seconds, the infant called out his target.

"I6."

The dog sighed.

"Hit. And there goes my battleship."

The child laughed evilly.

"Now all I have to do is take care of that pesky destroyer and victory shall be mine."

The dog rolled his eyes and was about to call out his next target but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. He looked over to see Lois all dressed up for Carol's party.

"Alright, Brian. We're leaving. Take good care of my baby. Ok?"

The dog nodded his head and waved goodbye at the woman.

"You can count on me, Lois. Have a good time."

Lois waved back and blew Stewie a kiss before exiting the room and heading downstairs. Brian perked up his ears and listened for the sound of the front door opening and shutting followed by the sound of the station wagon pulling out of the driveway and heading down the road. Once the coast was clear, he looked over at Stewie.

"I think I'm done with Battleship for the day."

The infant looked at him, confused, and frowned.

"What? But I was about to win!"

The dog folded his arms and looked at the boy seriously.

"Well, you can either finish up this game of Battleship that you're no doubt going to win, or…"

The canine's expression softened as he smiled at the boy.

"…you can go on a date with me."

The baby titled his head at the dog, not sure if he had heard right.

"W-What?"

Brian stood up and walked over to join Stewie on the boy's side of the table.

"I want to take you out tonight."

The child blinked, mind processing what he'd just been told, and when what was happening finally clicked, the biggest smile spread across his face.

"Y-You mean it!? You're not worried about Chris or Meg or Pe-."

The dog cut the boy off nodding his head in the affirmative.

"The whole family is gone for the weekend. Peter and Lois are taking Chris and Meg with them to Cincinnati."

The child's eyes went wide at this information, and he laughed gleefully.

"That's…That's wonderful!"

It was all he could say. He had no idea that he and Brian were going to have the house to themselves at all let alone an entire weekend. The canine chuckled and gripped the boy's shoulder in his paw.

"So, will you?"

The infant looked at him, perplexed by the question.

"Will I what?"

Brian rolled his eyes, smiling the entire time.

"Will you go out with me tonight?"

The baby blushed upon realizing what Brian had been referring to in his previous question. He nodded his head vigorously.

"Yes! Of course! As if you really had to ask!"

The two of them shared a laugh, and Brian leaned in to give the child a warm hug before pulling away and walking over to his box. He pulled out one of his finest suits and turned back to address Stewie.

"Well, then, I suggest you get yourself ready. I'm going to go get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs in about a half-hour. Ok?"

Stewie finally stood up from his chair and rushed over to his closet to find something to wear, too caught up in his excitement to bother responding to the canine. Brian just took the child's reaction to mean that the boy agreed to meet him downstairs in the allotted time and walked out of the room to leave the kid alone as they both got themselves ready. The dog walked down the hall and into Peter and Lois's room to prepare himself for his date. He'd been waiting for this ever since he first realized how deeply he was in love with Stewie, and he knew that tonight was going to be an important and fun experience for the both of them. Funny enough, despite how comfortable he always seemed to be around Stewie. He was actually pretty nervous about taking the kid out. Not in a scared way or anything, just a little worried that he might screw something up at some point. Mostly, though, he was just really excited to see how this would all play out and what kind of precedent it would set for future dates of theirs, because he was hoping that tonight would give him the courage he needed to not worry so much about others finding out about him and Stewie, maybe even allowing date nights to become a regular thing for them. Maybe that was planning too far ahead, but they were things he couldn't help but think about as he walked into the bathroom that was attached to Peter and Lois's room and began fixing his hair, meticulously grooming himself while smiling at his reflection in the mirror.

_You're going to blow that kid away._

* * *

Stewie barely noticed Brian leave his room as he ran over to his closet to look for something to wear on his date with the dog. He opened the door and gazed upon an assortment of his regular attire. It was at that moment that he thought about something.

_Does he expect me to dress up normally, or is he expecting something more…feminine?_

The child would like to think that it didn't matter one way or the other, but it would probably be easier on Brian if he appeared to be going out with a girl. Plus, it was probably a good idea to just play it safe and go in disguise. The family was gone, sure, but there were plenty of other people in Quahog who would be able to identify the dog's date as little infant Stewie. All in all, going in drag just seemed like the best, and for the boy, the most fun option, so he pushed aside his regular clothes and opened up the secret compartment in the back of his closet where he kept all his feminine attire. He began sifting through the various outfits, trying to decide which one Brian would enjoy seeing him in the most. The dog had already seen him in quite a few of the outfits, and as he looked through them, he began to reminisce on the times he had cross-dressed while with Brian. He pulled out a red dress that he remembered buying to wear when Brian needed help with a magic act. The dog had briefly dabbled in magic tricks in order to try and get together with a woman he never had a chance with in the first place. The boy ran over to a mirror and held the dress up to himself. It was a pretty nice dress, and from what he could remember he had looked pretty damn good in it. Still, the idea of wearing something that had been involved in one of Brian's schemes to get laid didn't strike him as appropriate. He tossed the dress to the side and ran back to retrieve something else. After a few more seconds of searching, he noticed a hot pink two piece he had used in a disguise when he and Brian went off on a mission to Paris to save Meg from being sold off as a sex slave. He obviously couldn't wear that on his date, but the memories it stirred up were enough to cause him to pause and look it over. He remembered the circumstances under which it had been worn. He had been posing as one of the kidnapped girls being sold off at an auction. Despite the bleak circumstances, he had enjoyed playing that role, and he loved the fact that he could honestly say that the dog had bid on him to be his sex slave at an auction and won, even if Brian probably hadn't thought anything of it since they were undercover.

_How much did he bid? $500,000?_

He laughed remembering how he had taken the stage and used the opportunity to put on a show for the mutt. Of course, the dog hadn't seemed too fazed by it.

_Perhaps he didn't like the choice in song?_

The boy shook himself out of his reverie and continued looking for something to wear. He pulled out one of his most worn outfits, a black dress he had worn while actually on a fake date with Brian when the dog was trying to make Jillian jealous because the mutt was actually foolish enough to think that he was in love with her. That had been an awkward night. Several of the men in the restaurant had recognized him in the dress, and Brian had interrogated him about it a little bit during the car ride home. Stewie liked to believe that the dog had been a tiny bit jealous. Considering where they were now in their relationship, that didn't seem completely out of the question anymore. That aside, the dress was one of the child's favorites, so he set it aside as an option before going back and searching through the rest of the clothes. He eventually happened upon another one of his disguises, a nurse's uniform. Seeing this outfit caused him to frown slightly as he remembered the night he had first worn it. Brian had come to him, seeking help because his blind girlfriend who happened to hate dogs wanted the canine to have dinner with her parents. Needless to say, the dog had been in quite a bind, and Stewie had graciously offered to lend a helping hand by coming up with a plan to bandage the dog from head to toe and accompany him there as a nurse to lie about what the bandages were for. The boy's jealousy had gotten the better of him that night. He'd sabotaged any chance the canine had had of pulling his lie off, though, Brian never caught on to that. What really hurt to remember, though, was how he had cut off the poor dog's tail after being asked to keep it from wagging and alerting their fellow diners to the fact that their daughter was dating a dog. He'd fixed it later, but that didn't make up for the fact that he had mutilated the poor canine out of an anger brought on by his jealousy. That moment was one of the worst instances that he could think of where he had physically hurt Brian, at least that had occurred after he had discovered how much he loved the dog. He shook his head.

_I shouldn't have done that. He may have been acting like a douche, but he didn't deserve that kind of treatment._

The boy turned his attention away from the uniform and focused on the other outfits, not allowing himself to dwell on such bleak thoughts while he was preparing for a night he'd been dreaming about for so long. He quickly found a suitable distraction when he pulled out an outfit he hadn't seen in quite awhile.

_Well, hello there, Karina!_

The child's face lit up as he looked over the outfit he had used when assuming his alter ego, Karina Smirnoff, the actress who played the most popular character on the short lived American version of  _Jolly Farm Revue_. Getting that role had been a dream come true, but the best part of his many experiences as Karina was when he had succeeded in seducing Brian. If the child hadn't revealed who he actually was, there was no doubt in his mind that he and Brian would have ended up fucking in the dog's car or something. The mutt had gotten a major hard on when interacting with Karina, and if it wasn't for the fact that the boy couldn't stand that it was actually Karina that Brian was interested in and not the actual Stewie, the kid would have allowed things to escalate to such a point. Even if he did end up ending things before they got out of hand, the look on the dog's face when he realized what was happening had been priceless, and from that point on, whenever the child would wear his Karina outfit, the dog's whole attitude would change around him. This was definitely something worth considering as something to wear on his first real night out with Brian. He set the Karina disguise aside and decided to look for at least one more outfit to pick from. After about another minute of sifting through clothes, he located a dress that had been pushed to the far side of the compartment. He pulled out the dress and recognized it immediately. He smiled.

_Oh, my god! It's perfect!_

Upon seeing this particular dress, the child knew that it was no contest. This is what he was going to wear tonight. He put the dress down and quickly picked out a matching pair of shoes along with a pair of panties and a blonde wig before putting everything else back into the compartment, closing it, and covering it up with the other clothes in his closet. He picked up all the articles of clothing for his outfit, walked over to a mirror, and set to work on getting himself ready for the love of his life. He was about to begin undressing himself, but stopped when he noticed that Rupert was facing in his direction. He blushed and walked over to the far wall to turn the bear so he was facing it.

"No peeking, Rupert. Only Brian gets to see this fantastic body in all its glory now."

He walked back over to the mirror and began the process of removing his regular yellow shirt and overalls. As he was undressing, he heard Rupert's reply.

_Damn. Lucky dog gets to have all the fun._

The boy chuckled and waggled his finger in the direction of his bear.

"Now, now, we discussed this. I'm with Brian now, and while, I appreciate you being there for me when I needed you to be. I've made it very clear who my heart belongs to, and you said that you understood that. You're just going to have to find someone else to have fun with from now on, which I'm sure will be no problem for a handsome guy like you."

The child kicked off his shoes, pulled off his socks, and then proceeded to remove his overalls. As he was kicking the overalls across the room, he heard Rupert laugh.

_I was just joking. I know you're with Brian now, and I'm happy for you two. It's been a long time coming._

The kid pulled off his shirt and began slipping out of his diaper as he nodded his head.

"Indeed it has, Rupert, but these last several days have made me realize that the wait was worth it. I've never been so happy, and I'm pretty sure the same can be said of Brian."

With his regular clothes now discarded on the floor, Stewie picked up the panties and pulled them on before doing the same with his dress.

 _Brian would have been lost without you. He_ needed  _you._

The infant slipped on his shoes and looked at himself in the mirror, admiring his reflection.

"I appreciate you saying that, Rupert, and while I do believe that's true, that Brian needed me, I also know in my heart that the opposite is also true. I needed him. Could you imagine where I would be right now without Brian?"

Satisfied with his outfit, the boy ran over to his little vanity table to put on his wig and apply the finishing touches to his ensemble.

_Oh, dear God! I can't even imagine what you would be like if you had never had Brian in your life. He's had such a huge influence on you, and most of that was for the better._

The baby finished applying some red lipstick before moving on to the mascara.

"I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for Brian. I'd probably still be that same bitter child I used to be, who's only goals in life consisted of ruling the world and killing his mother. Brian made me realize what was really important. He helped me grow up."

The child finished applying his makeup and gave himself a quick onceover before running back over to the full body mirror to check himself out. His appearance was more than satisfactory in his opinion, but it wouldn't hurt to get another person's thoughts on his look. He walked back over to Rupert.

"Alright, I'm all dressed up. You can turn around now."

He turned the bear back around to face him.

"How do I look?"

He heard the bear respond with a wolf whistle.

_You're going to blow that dog away._

Satisfied with the response, the boy decided that he was ready to go downstairs and meet Brian.

"That's what I like to hear. I guess that means I'm all ready to go."

Unable to hide how giddy he was, the infant practically skipped to the door. Before he opened it, he turned back to address his bear one last time.

"Wish me luck, Rupert."

With that, he opened the door and left the room.

* * *

Brian finished adjusting his tie and looked at himself in the mirror, giving himself a quick onceover before exiting the bathroom and walking over to Peter and Lois's closet. He opened the closet and knelt down to retrieve a small box wrapped as a gift that he had hidden away in the corner of the closet yesterday. He stuck the box in his pocket, shut the closet door, and left the room to go downstairs and wait for Stewie. He sat down on the couch and folded his paws together. He was nervous,  _really_ nervous, which didn't make much sense to him since he was usually so comfortable when he hung out around Stewie, but now that he was thinking about it, this time was different. He had something to prove tonight, and he was beginning to feel the pressure of the situation building up.

_Relax, Brian. There's no need to complicate this. This is about you and Stewie having a good time together. Just act normally, and everything else will work itself out._

The dog took a deep breath and began patting his knees with his paws, whistling a little tune as he did so. After a couple more minutes, he heard the sound of a door opening and then shutting, followed by footsteps approaching the stairway. He stood up from the couch and directed his gaze at the stairs, eager to see how Stewie had prepared himself for the night. The dog had to suppress a gasp once he caught sight of the boy and what he was wearing. He recognized the outfit immediately. It was the exact same thing that he'd seen Stewie wear that one time when they were tailing Meg and Mayor West at that restaurant. It was the same thing the boy had been wearing when they had…kissed for the first time. A dopey grin found its way on the canine's face as he became overwhelmed with feelings of nostalgia and thoughts about just how amazingly Stewie was able to pull off the feminine look.

_Damn, he looks good in that!_

Brian had always been pretty impressed by how well the kid was able to pull off wearing women's clothing, and there had been several instances where the child had dressed up in such a manner and the dog had caught himself thinking, even for a split second, that the boy was actually, sort of, kind of attractive under the right circumstances. Those thoughts used to freak him out, terrify him, but now that he was with Stewie, he had no problem marveling at the beautiful sight before him. He was so caught up in the moment that he barely registered when Stewie had finally walked up next to him, and it wasn't until the child's voice hit his ear that he was able to pull himself together.

"So? What do you think?"

The kid did a little twirl and smiled up at the dog. Brian chuckled.

"What do I think? I think you look pretty damn amazing!"

The infant blushed at the canine's compliment. He put his hands behind his back and looked down at his feet, shuffling them nervously. He'd been waiting such a long time to hear the dog say something like that to him, and the exhilaration he was feeling after hearing those words was almost too much. After a few seconds, he looked back up at the dog with a small smile.

"Really?"

Brian nodded his head sincerely.

"Really. You look great, Stewie."

The boy had to fight to contain the giddiness that was threatening to bubble up from under the surface of his calm visage. He clenched his palms together and cleared his throat before addressing the dog again.

"I'm…I'm glad you think so."

The child smirked at the dog before continuing.

"After all, I can't have you ogling anyone but me now, can I?"

The dog laughed and shook his head.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

He took the infant's hand.

"After all, I only have eyes for you now."

It was sappy, but Stewie didn't care. He was reveling in the dog's attempts to charm him. All those times of seeing the canine act this way with others and wondering what it would be like to have Brian be this sweet to him, all that dreaming, had finally paid off. This is what it felt like to be wooed by Brian, and it was better than he could have ever imagined. The boy gave the dog's hand an affectionate squeeze before leaning up and planting a kiss on the dog's lips, but just as Brian began to return the kiss he pulled away, making sure to leave the mutt craving more. He laughed inwardly as he watched the dog reflexively lick his lips, chasing the taste of the infant that had been kissing him only seconds earlier. Before Brian could say anything in response, Stewie cut him off.

"Soooo? What's the plan? Where are we going?"

At hearing this question, Brian let go of the child's hand and began explaining his plans for the night with great excitement.

"Well, there's this new restaurant that opened up downtown a couple of weeks ago, and I've been hearing some really great things about it, so I figured it would be a nice place for us to go eat. I went ahead and set us up a reservation for seven, which gives us about a good half hour or so to get down there. After that, I don't really have anything particular in mind. I just thought it would be fun to just see where the night takes us after that."

The boy took a second to think about what he'd just been told before tugging on the dog's arm and pulling him toward the door.

"Well, what are we waiting for!? Let's get going!"

The canine happily followed the infant's direction, leading his date out of the house and into the Prius waiting for the two of them outside.


	4. Part IV

During the car ride to the restaurant Brian and Stewie hardly said a word to each other. There was some light conversation at the start after Brian had turned on the radio to one of his regular stations and Stewie had begun trying to convince the dog to change it to a more modern Top 40 station. Brian was far from happy with the suggestion but had acquiesced anyway, deciding that arguing over a radio station wouldn't exactly be the best way to start off their first date together, and Stewie had been quite surprised by how easy it had been to talk Brian into changing the station. In all honesty, if Brian had decided to ignore his request and keep it on the other station, Stewie wouldn't have been too upset about it. It wasn't like he hated Brian's music, far from it, he really, really enjoyed the dog's taste in music, but lately, the child had found himself also really enjoying a lot of the more popular songs and artists on the radio. He'd have been fine with either of the stations, but at that moment, he mainly had the desire to listen to the latter. While Stewie enjoyed his music, Brian was tuning it out and not just because of his dislike for it. The dog was deep in thought. The restaurant that he and Stewie were heading to was the same restaurant that he had gone to meet Susan at only a week ago. It had been the place where he had begun his train of thought that had eventually caused him to try and kill himself that night, and now, he was going back. There were many reasons why he had chosen to go back there. For one, while it might have been the place that had almost ended his life, it was also the place where events had been set into motion that had eventually gotten him where he was now, in a happy relationship with Stewie. Taking the child there for their first night out had just seemed appropriate, but there was an even deeper reason for Brian deciding to go back there. It was hard to describe, but the main word that came to the dog's mind was redemption, though, he knew that was probably too heavy a word to describe his intentions. He knew that going to the restaurant was going to be different this time because he had Stewie, and tonight, he intended to erase the memory of his depression from that night and replace it with one of a milestone in a relationship he knew was different and actually meant something to him. Maybe, it was just his way of bringing events full circle, closing out the previous lonely chapter in his life and kicking off this new promising one that he and Stewie would be sharing together. That sounded about right, and Brian smiled at the thought. Sure, it was a little corny, but to Brian, it made perfect sense. Maybe, it was just the writer in him that was making him view things the way he was.

_It doesn't matter why I feel I have to do this. What does matter is the closure I'm hoping to get from this experience._

Just as that thought crossed his mind, the canine saw the restaurant come into view and refocused his attention on what was currently happening. He began searching for a parking spot and pulled into the very first one he was able to find. He parked the car by the sidewalk and pulled out his key before hopping out and running around to the other side to open the door for his date. He extended his hand, and the boy accepted it, locking the doors as he exited the vehicle. Brian then shut the door and began leading the boy down the sidewalk to their destination. After walking about half a block, they arrived at the building. Stewie looked up and read the sign with the name of the restaurant on it.

**L'Aigre Doux**

Stewie had never heard of the restaurant, but it looked nice enough. Plus, the smells coming from it were enough to whet his appetite for some nice French cuisine. He eagerly followed Brian into the building, and they walked up to the maitre d' who was just returning from seating some other customers. The dog looked up to address the man.

"Excuse me. I made a reservation for seven, and it's a little early, but I was wondering if it would be possible to go ahead and get me and my date to our table."

The man looked down at him, nodded, and opened up the log with the list of reservations for the night.

"Name?"

The dog cleared his throat before answering.

"It should be under Brian, Brian Griffin."

The man scanned the log for a few seconds before smiling.

"Aha. Here you are, Mr. Griffin, and lucky for you, your table is open and ready for you."

The maitre d' grabbed a couple of menus and ushered the couple to follow him to the table. The man then led them to a table near the back of the room and set their menus down. Brian and Stewie took their seats across from each other as the man began speaking again.

"A waiter will be here to assist you shortly."

With one last smile at both the boy and the dog, the maitre d' turned to head back to his post near the entrance. Brian and Stewie opened their menus and began looking through the appetizers, both eyeing the selections intently. It didn't take Stewie long to get a good grasp on what was available and decide what he wanted. The boy looked up from his menu to get his date's attention.

"My word, everything on here sounds fantastic, but I think I'm going to have to go with the mixed greens with goat cheese. What do you think?"

The canine looked up from over his menu and shrugged.

"Whatever sounds good to you. Get what you want, but personally, I'm interested to try out their onion soup."

The dog put down his menu.

"Unless you wanted to share something."

Stewie shook his head.

"That would be nice, but I'm not going to make you get something you don't want just so we can share it. I'll get my greens, and you get your soup."

The boy put down his menu, signaling that he had made up his mind. A few seconds later, a man approached their table to inquire about their orders. Brian told him what he and Stewie wanted for their appetizers and that they would need a few more minutes to decide what they wanted for their entrées. The waiter quickly jotted the order down and looked back at the dog.

"Will you be dining with wine tonight, Monsieur?"

At this question, the dog hesitated and glanced over at Stewie questioningly. The boy chuckled and rolled his eyes before answering on behalf of the canine.

"Yes. Wine sounds lovely."

The waiter nodded.

"Very good. I'll bring you the wine list shortly."

With nothing else to take care of at the moment, the man turned and walked away. Stewie looked over at Brian with a slightly confused expression.

"Why did you hesitate when our waiter asked about the wine? I mean, I drink. I've drunk with you on more than one occasion."

Brian chuckled nervously.

"I-I know. It's just that…sometimes I remember how…different you are, and I remember how odd this whole thing is. I don't mean that in a bad way, but when that guy asked me about the wine…for a brief second…"

The canine leaned forward and whispered the rest of his sentence.

"Your age came to mind."

He leaned back again and continued speaking at a regular volume.

"Not that I have a problem with you drinking, but sometimes, I have to consider the ramifications of what I'm doing here, and sometimes…that can make things awkward."

The dog lowered his head, talking more to himself than to the boy.

"I'm still getting used to this, but that doesn't mean I'm having doubts or anything."

He looked back up, now smiling.

"I know I've got a good thing here, no matter what others might think."

The dog reached across the table and took the infant's hand.

"You're just going to have to give me some time to get used to this, but I promise, I'm not going anywhere. Ok?"

The boy squeezed the dog's paw and nodded his head.

"Ok."

And with that, they picked up their menus again to decide what they each wanted for their entrée. The waiter stopped by for a brief second to hand Brian the wine list, and the dog set it aside, deciding he'd worry about the wine once he figured out what he was going to eat. After quickly glancing over his options, Brian quickly came to a decision. He set his menu down and saw that Stewie was staring at his intently, lightly biting his lower lip. The child was obviously debating between a few of the options and having a difficult time deciding. Brian just sat there for a minute and admired the sight of the baby so deep in thought. It was a look that he had taken for granted for too long.

_He's adorable._

After a few more seconds, the dog leaned forward to speak to the boy.

"Having trouble?"

The infant looked up from his menu.

"I can't decide between the chicken or duck. "

He shook his head slowly.

"Why'd you have to bring me to a place where I'd want to try everything on the bloody menu?"

The canine chuckled at this.

"Fine. Next time I'll take you to a fast food restaurant or something since you're having such a difficult time deciding on what to eat."

The infant rolled his eyes at the notion but smiled anyway. He looked back at the menu for about another minute before setting it down and sighing.

"They both sound superb, but I think, I'm going with the roasted chicken."

Almost immediately after the boy had made his decision, their waiter appeared again with their appetizers. Brian and Stewie moved their menus out of the way so the man could set their food down on the table. Once the food was in front of them, the waiter pulled out a notepad and looked over at Brian.

"Are you two ready to order your entrées?"

Brian nodded his head and tilted his menu so the waiter could see the item he was pointing to. Once he had the waiter's attention, he began reading from the menu.

"Yes. I'll have the grilled marinated skirt steak, medium rare, with a potato gratin, braised native capa cabbage, bacon and mirepoix."

The waiter nodded and wrote the order down before turning toward Stewie.

"And for the lady?"

The child cleared his throat and began speaking.

"I'm having the roasted boneless pat's pastured half chicken with marinated grilled zucchini, roasted Yukon gold potatoes, and salsa verde, but is there any way I can get that sans the onions?"

The man quickly scribbled down the order before answering the boy's question.

"Of course, Mademoiselle. I'll be sure to let the chef know how you want your chicken."

The waiter smiled at the child before turning back to address the canine.

"Have you decided on a wine to accompany your meal?"

The dog was taken off guard by this question. He had completely forgotten to choose a wine for him and Stewie. He chuckled nervously and reached for the wine list.

"Give me one second."

He began scanning the restaurant's selection of red wines and quickly made a familiar choice.

"Bring us a bottle of the Cabernet Sauvignon, if you would be so kind."

The dog handed the wine list back to the waiter with a satisfied smile. The man nodded at the dog's selection and collected their menus before turning and walking away. Brian turned back to look at Stewie, still smiling like he had just proven something. The boy chuckled at the look of pride on the dog's face and sighed happily before digging into his appetizer. Brian followed suit, but it wasn't long before Stewie spoke up again.

"Mmmm. That's really good."

The infant looked up from his food and nodded toward the dog's bowl.

"How's your soup?"

The canine looked up from the bowl and grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth before replying with a smile.

"It's, uh, it's great. I think I made a good choice coming here."

The infant nodded to show that he agreed.

"It is a pretty nice place, and if this appetizer is any indication, the quality of the food is fantastic. I have to agree with you. It would seem that my man knows how to pick a restaurant."

Brian could feel himself blushing at the compliment. He reached up and began rubbing his neck in slight embarrassment.

"I've…I've never heard you call me that before."

The boy tilted his head in confusion.

"What?"

The canine composed himself before responding.

"You just referred to me as your man. You've never done that before. It's…different. I…I like it."

After saying that, the dog had to look away for a second, too embarrassed at what he'd just said to look into his date's eyes directly. He could hear the baby chuckling in amusement, and that just made the heat in his cheeks even more intense. After a few seconds, he forced himself to turn his head back to look at the boy just in time to catch the sight of Stewie shrugging.

"Well, that's what you are, right? My man? I'm just calling it like I see it, Bry, and since you enjoy hearing it so much, I'll be sure to say it much more often."

The dog laughed and shook his head.

"I'm completely ok with that. Just make sure that the wrong people don't hear you saying it."

The boy scoffed at this, knowing that the mutt was referring to their idiotic family.

"Oh, please, Brian, as if they'd pay enough attention to even register what I'm saying to you, and even if they did, they'd just think it was baby talk just like everything else I say. They never take anything else I say seriously, so I don't expect them to care much if I choose to only refer to you as my man from now on."

The child's eyes got big, and he began pouting his lip while doing an impression of what a normal baby would sound like.

"Momma. Me and my man went out last night, and then, we came home, went upstairs, and started to…"

The dog winced at the infant's impression and raised his paws up to cut him off midsentence, urging the child to stop.

"Oh, God. Stop. Just stop."

The boy smirked at the canine.

"I'm just trying to make a point. Nobody listens to me, so why should it matter what I say?"

The dog put his paws down and sighed.

"I got the point. Just…promise me you'll  _never_ do that again. That was just…it was creepy."

The infant laughed before responding.

"I'm sorry, Bry. I promise, I won't do anything like that again if it really makes you that uncomfortable."

The canine chuckled sarcastically.

"It does, and I appreciate you understanding that."

With that, the two of them dropped the subject and returned to their food. By the time they were finishing up their appetizers, the waiter approached them carrying the bottle of the wine Brian had asked for and a couple of wine glasses. He set the glasses down before holding the bottle of wine out for the dog to see.

"The Cabernet Sauvignon, as requested."

Brian nodded his approval, and the waiter set to work opening the bottle. Once the bottle was open, Brian spoke up.

"Don't worry about pouring. I'll take care of that."

The waiter heeded the canine's request and set the bottle down before motioning towards Brian and Stewie's plates.

"Are the two of you done with these?"

Brian and Stewie both nodded and allowed for the waiter to pick up their plates. With the plates now in hand, the waiter addressed them again.

"I'll be right back with your entrées."

With those words, the waiter left them, and Brian set to work filling his and Stewie's glasses. He picked up the bottle and held it out toward Stewie. The child pushed his glass towards the bottle and allowed the dog to fill it about halfway. As soon as the dog finished, Stewie took his glass and smiled at the dog.

"My, aren't you the gentleman."

The canine chuckled playfully and began filling his own glass while replying quietly.

"What can I say? I know how to treat a boy right."

He placed the bottle back on the table, picked up his glass, and smiled back at the child.

"To us and the happy future I'm sure we'll have together."

The infant nodded.

"I'll certainly toast to that."

The two of them clinked their glasses together and took a sip of the wine, savoring the fine taste of it. At that moment, the waiter arrived with their entrées. He set the appropriate dishes in front of them and looked over at Brian.

"Will there be anything else?"

The dog shook his head.

"No. Thank you. That'll be all for now."

The waiter nodded at this and stepped back.

"Very well then. Enjoy your meals."

With one final bow, the man walked off to attend to other patrons in the restaurant. Without hesitation, both Brian and Stewie dug into their plates eagerly. Over the next half hour or so, the two of them enjoyed their meals all the while engaging in regular conversation. The topics ranged from things like Stewie's newest scientific endeavors to simple nostalgic recollections of previous moments in their relationship. There were a few quips exchanged along with a couple of bad jokes, mostly from Brian, but all in all, everything felt really natural, like they had been doing this sort of thing ever since they first met and in a sense, they had. The rest of the restaurant just sort of faded away, and all that was left was them and the delicious dinner they were having by candlelight. It was easily the most enjoyable and most comfortable date Brian had ever been on, and he was sure that nothing could ruin this night. Once the dog had finished his steak, he scooted his chair around the table so that he was closer to Stewie and put an arm around the infant's shoulder. The child finished what was left of his chicken and scooted his chair right up next to Brian's, nestling his head in the dog's side and sighing contentedly.

"I love you, Brian."

The canine tightened his grip on the baby and smiled down at him.

"I love you, too, Stewie."

The infant closed his eyes and melted into the embrace, forgetting everything except the feeling of Brian's body against his, and in that moment, everything was perfect. The dog looked back up to gaze around the restaurant, enjoying the scenery, when all of a sudden his eye caught sight of someone he thought he recognized. He squinted, trying to get a better look at the person, but it was no use. The restaurant was too dark for him to make out the person across the room, so he perked his ears up to see if he could make out the sound of their voice. His keen canine hearing picked up the sound easily.

"Heh. Heh. Awwright!"

Brian gasped in surprise, bringing Stewie out of his daze. The boy looked up at him with a look of concern.

"What's the matter, Bry?"

The dog didn't respond. He was too focused on trying to make out the conversation going on at the other table, eventually he was able to make out another voice, the voice of a woman that he could have sworn he'd heard before. He strained to remember the name of the woman he was hearing. It took him a few seconds to figure it out, and when he did, he couldn't help but gasp again.

_Susan!_

At hearing the canine gasp a second time, Stewie sat up and raised his voice to get the dog's attention.

"Brian, what's wrong?"

Brian looked over at Stewie, but he wasn't sure what to say. Sure, it was odd and a little disturbing that the woman he had intended to meet here a week ago was now here with a man that despised him, but should it really matter? Why should that bother him? It could just be a coincidence. The dog shook his head at the thought.

_That's one hell of a coincidence._

Finally, the canine just sighed and decided to let Stewie know what was going on.

"Quagmire's here."

The infant tilted his head and shrugged.

"Ok? So what? I know you two have a rivalry of some kind, but I don't see why we can't just ignore him. He's not bothering us or anything."

The dog lowered his head and shook it.

"I know, but it's just weird. I mean, he's here with Susan, the girl I was meeting up with last weekend, that I was meeting  _here_ last weekend! Doesn't that seem just a little suspicious to you?"

The baby just stared at him, not sure how to respond. After about a minute, he placed a hand on his chin, rubbing it thoughtfully as he responded.

"I'll admit, that is pretty strange, but I still don't see why we should let it ruin our evening."

The child continued thinking for a few more seconds before sighing dejectedly.

"Maybe…we should just get out of here? Damn it! And I was really looking forward to dessert!"

The child folded his arms over his chest and huffed, annoyed at the unwanted turn of events. After seeing the look of disappointment on Stewie's face, Brian straitened up and shook his head firmly.

"You know what? No. I'm not going to let Quagmire ruin this for us. If my date wants dessert, damn it, they're getting desert. If Quagmire wants to come over here and start something, I'll be more than happy to finish it."

Stewie smiled at the sudden change in the dog's attitude. Brian looked over at one of the waiters and ushered them over to the table. The waiter approached with a bow.

"Monsieur, can I help you?"

Brian nodded his head and grabbed a nearby menu.

"Yes you can. Me and my date have just finished our dinner, and we would like something for dessert."

At hearing this, the waiter pulled out a pen and notepad. Brian opened up the menu and scanned it for the dessert section. Once he found it, he tilted the menu in Stewie's direction so they could both look at it. The dog smiled at the boy.

"What would you like?"

The infant's eyes lit up as he began reading through all the options.

"Hmmm. My, this is a tough decision."

The boy chuckled, slightly nervous about suddenly being put on the spot but too focused on figuring out what he wanted to care. Eventually, the child had made up his mind. He pointed to the item on the menu and smiled excitedly at his date. Brian leaned over to get a better view of what Stewie was pointing at. After reading the boy's selection, he looked at the child and nodded his head in agreement before tilting the menu back toward the waiter and reading what Stewie wanted.

"We'd like to share the profiteroles with vanilla ice cream, nut brittle and caramel sauce."

The canine shut the menu and watched as the waiter finished writing their order down. Once he was done, the man pocketed his pen and smiled at the couple.

"I'll get that to you as soon as I can."

The dog thanked the man for his service before allowing him to walk away. Brian looked back over at Stewie and licked his lips.

"Good choice, Kid. That thing sounds delicious."

The dog wrapped his arm back around the boy and pulled him in closer, leaning in for a quick kiss. Unfortunately, the two of them were interrupted when they heard someone calling over to them.

"Brian!? Oh my God! What are the odds!?"

The canine growled under his breath and pulled away from his date to address the man who had rudely interrupted their intimate moment. He looked forward and saw Glenn Quagmire standing there with a forced smile. The dog forced a smile right back.

"Glenn? Hey! What brings you here?"

The man pulled up a chair and sat across from Brian and Stewie before answering.

"Oh. I'm just on a date with this really hot blonde."

Quagmire turned his head to look over at Stewie. Upon seeing the boy in disguise, he quirked his eyebrow a little as if he recognized the child, but any worries Stewie might have had about that were quickly dashed when the look of familiarity was replaced by a sly smile.

"And it would appear that you're doing the same."

It took everything in Brian not to jump across the table and strangle Quagmire for ogling his Stewie like he was. Stewie himself was beginning to feel really uncomfortable from the way the man across the table was staring at him. There was an awkward silence between the three of them before Brian finally decided enough was enough.

"Look, Quagmire, me and my date are just trying to enjoy ourselves here. Can't you just leave us alone?"

The man ignored Brian's question, still eyeing Stewie.

"I'm sorry. Have we met? You look awfully familiar."

The boy shook his head violently, trying to dispel any suspicion that he and the man had met before.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I've never seen you before."

The man frowned at this.

"That's funny. I could have sworn that…"

At that moment, the voice of a female joined in on their conversation.

"Glenn, Honey, what are you doing over here?"

Quagmire forgot about Stewie for the moment and turned to smile at the blonde woman approaching their table. Brian immediately recognized the woman. It was Susan.

_Oh god. This will_ not  _end well._

As the woman got closer to the table, her gaze eventually landed on Brian. The woman directed a scowl at the dog before looking back at Quagmire.

"What are you doing talking to  _him_?"

Brian's jaw dropped in confusion, unable to determine why Susan would be acting so hostile toward him.

_What the hell is that all about?_

Quagmire got up, pulled up another chair, and motioned for Susan to have a seat. The woman reluctantly complied with the situation, but the anger on her face was obvious. Quagmire laughed.

"I just happened to see him over here on my way to the bathroom, and I figured I'd stop for a second to say hi."

Susan huffed in disapproval. Brian couldn't hold it back anymore. He had to know what was up with the woman and why she was acting the way she was.

"Ok. Susan, what's up with the hostile attitude here? I mean, I've only ever seen you once, and we got along well enough. We were even supposed to be going out a week ago, but you stood me up. What did I do to make you treat me this way?"

The woman rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest.

"Save it, Brian. Glenn told me all about you. He told me how you treat women, how you woo them, give them a nice night out, treat them with just enough respect to get into their pants and then forget about them before moving on to your next conquest. Men like you sicken me. I'm just lucky that I had Glenn to warn me before I became just another notch in your bedpost."

Both Stewie's and Brian's eyes went wide at what the woman had just said. Brian clenched his paws as he redirected his gaze at Quagmire, starring at him, enraged.

"You told her what!?"

The man smirked at the dog, refusing to respond. Brian turned back to speak with Susan.

"That's why you didn't show up last week!? Quagmire told you I was some kind of manwhore!?"

The woman nodded, arms still crossed over her chest. At seeing this, Stewie found he couldn't keep quiet any longer. He stood up in his chair and leaned over the table to scream at Quagmire.

"He tried to kill himself because of you, you son of a bitch!"

The child's outburst caused everyone in the restaurant to go silent and turn to see what all the commotion was about. The boy had his fists clenched around the tablecloth and he was breathing heavily, trying desperately to contain the overwhelming anger he was feeling. Ignoring the fact that he now had everyone's attention, he continued.

"Your lie almost caused me to lose the most important person in my life!"

The infant turned to look at the woman who was now looking extremely nervous.

"I don't know what this bastard told you, but you shouldn't have believed him! He hates Brian and for no good reason! Even I'll admit that Brian has his issues, but he told you Brian was a manwhore!? Well, I'm sorry to tell you sister, but the man you're with is the manwhore here! Not! MY! BRIAN!"

Quagmire suddenly spoke up.

"Hey! I thought you said you didn't know me! What gives you the right to assume that about me!?"

Stewie looked over at the man and scoffed.

"Assume!? I'm not assuming anything! I'm telling this woman the truth!"

The man went to retort, but Stewie ignored him, instead turning back to address Susan again.

"Brian actually was interested in trying to find someone he could have a serious relationship with! In fact, his failed attempts at romance were part of the reason he struggled with depression! When  _you_ failed to show up, that was the last straw! He didn't want to go on anymore! He didn't see the point in it if he had nobody to share his life with! Luckily, things didn't turn out that way, but if they had, then I…I…"

Tears were beginning to collect in the boy's eyes as he remembered the moment when he had pulled Brian out of the garage, the moment when it had seemed like he had been too late, that Brian had left him forever. The anger fell from his face, and he sat back down. Brian placed an arm around the boy, trying to console him. The dog looked at Susan, pleading with his eyes for her to believe him.

"Susan, she's telling the truth. I had been struggling with my romantic life for a long time before I met you, and when you didn't show up, I…I felt like it was all pointless, like there was no way I could ever find love in this world, and I didn't want to live life knowing that. You hurt me, and while I do wish things had been different, I guess…I should thank you."

Everyone at the table looked at the dog, confused. Susan finally unfolded her arms and spoke in a tone devoid of anger.

"Thank me? For what?"

The dog looked down at Stewie and smiled before looking back up at the woman and answering her question.

"If you hadn't stood me up. I probably would have never found love in this person right here. Ever since I've been with her, I've never been happier, and I can finally, honestly say that I'm content with my life."

The canine took a napkin and wiped away the small amount of tears that had fallen from the infant's eyes, cleaning up some of the running mascara and hugging him tightly. After that, there was silence for a good while before Quagmire finally groaned at the scene. The man turned to look at Susan, rolling his eyes.

"Can you believe this guy!? He's so full of it! Suicide!? Really!? He expects you to believe that he was going to commit suicide just because you didn't show up!? And his date is no better! She doesn't know what she's talking about! He's got her buying into his sob story!"

The boy shot his gaze over to Quagmire, about at his wits end.

"I was fucking there! I pulled him out of the fucking car! I resuscitated him!"

Brian had had enough. This had gone too far. He looked over at Quagmire and began shouting at him.

"Just get out of here! We were having a great time before you showed up! What's the point in this!?"

Susan nodded her head at this and reached for Quagmire's arm.

"Glenn, I don't really see the point in this either. Let's just go back to our table and forget about this. Ok?"

The man shook his head and pulled his arm away from the woman before standing up from his chair and leaning over the table at Brian.

"You're a real piece of work! You know that, Brian!? You're nothing but a lying, manipulative animal! You've got this poor woman actually believing that you were suicidal, and you couldn't care less about how that makes her feel! You don't care about her! Just like you never really cared about any of the other women you've been with! She's just going to end up like all the others, and you're just going to die alone, like you deserve!"

The dog saw red, and all reason left him. Before he realized what he was doing, he grabbed the wine bottle, jumped on top of the table, and smashed it over Quagmire's head with a feral snarl. The man clutched his head in pain and fell to the ground. Brian jumped down on top of him and began wailing on him with his fists.

"Look who's fucking talking! I've had it with this shit! You don't like me!? Fine, but that doesn't mean you get to say whatever the fuck you want about me and try to ruin my fucking life in the process! You don't know me! You've never taken the time to actually get to know me! And how dare you say that about my date! How dare you insinuate that I would leave her, that she's! JUST! LIKE! ALL! THE! OTHERS! She's not! She's everything I've ever wanted, and! I! LOVE! HIM!"

The dog was about to punch the man again, but he was stopped when one of the waiters grabbed him by the arm. Another one soon followed, and together, they pulled the canine off of Quagmire, who was now unconscious. They held Brian until he calmed down, and eventually, one of the staff members walked up to address the dog, eyeing the animal seriously.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You're check is on the table. Pay for your meal and get out."

Without another word, the group of workers dispersed and set to work cleaning up the mess Brian had made in his rage. Brian looked at the man on the floor one last time before walking over to his table and pulling out his wallet. He looked to see what the damage was before pulling out the appropriate amount of money and placing it on the table. He looked over at Susan, the woman looked terrified, but he didn't really care. Then, he looked over at Stewie who was still sitting in his seat, mouth wide open. The canine sighed and took the infant's hand.

"Come on, Kid. Let's get out of here."

With his head hung low, the dog walked him and his date out of the restaurant. As they were walking down the sidewalk, Stewie began speaking.

"What now, Bry?"

The canine just shook his head.

"I don't know, Stewie. I guess we should just head home."

The boy understood why the dog would want to do that. Their night had turned into the quite the disaster.

_Fuck you, Quagmire, for ruining my night with Brian!_

They reached the car, and Brian opened the passenger side door. He was about to put the boy into his car seat, but the child stopped him.

"Brian…I don't want things to end like this. It's not fair."

Brian saw how upset the child was, and his heart broke a little.

_I can't let it end like this. Quagmire may have ruined our dinner, but I can't let him ruin our night. Stewie doesn't deserve that._

With a new found resolve, the dog smiled at the boy.

"Don't worry, Stewie. I'm not going to let this ruin our night together. We still have a whole house to ourselves, and the night is still young."

The child smiled at this and allowed the canine to pick him up and put him in the car. Once Stewie was secure, Brian ran over to the driver's side of the vehicle, hopped in, and started the engine. He looked over at the child by his side and leaned in to gave him a quick but firm kiss before pulling out of the parking lot and heading for home.

_I swear, I'm going to fix this._


	5. Part V

Brian spent the majority of the car ride back home trying to cheer up Stewie. He made sure to turn it to the radio station that they had been listening to earlier, he cracked a couple of jokes, and he even made a quick stop to get them both ice cream cones to make up for the dessert they weren't able to get from the restaurant. He also kept telling the child over and over to forget about what just happened and focus on the night ahead. Stewie appreciated how concerned Brian seemed to be about how what had occurred at the restaurant might have affected him, and he was glad that the canine wasn't going to let that incident wreck their evening together. Thanks to Brian, it didn't take long for the child to put all that behind him and think about more pleasant things, like the ice cream he was currently eating and all that he and Brian could do once they got back home. The infant reached out his hand toward the dog, and Brian looked over at the boy. Getting the message, Brian quickly finished up his ice cream cone and reached out his paw, too, taking the child's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. The two of them held hands for the rest of the ride back home, and by the time they pulled into the driveway, the confrontation with Quagmire was a distant memory. The dog let go of the boy's hand and parked the car before hopping out and going to the passenger side to retrieve Stewie. He took the baby's hand again and led him inside the house. The two of them took a seat on the couch, and Brian wrapped an arm around the boy, who was in the process of finishing up his ice cream, before kissing him on the forehead and speaking to him.

"So? What do you want to do?"

The infant just shrugged and leaned into the dog's embrace.

"I don't know. I kind of just like sitting here with you."

The canine began rubbing his paw up and down the length of Stewie's arm, earning a low moan from the child. He chuckled.

"I like sitting here with you, too, Stewie."

For several minutes, there was just silence as the couple just enjoyed the quiet and each other's company. Brian continued to stroke the infant's arm, and Stewie just faded away into the warmth of Brian's body. The child was deep in thought, thinking about the concerns he had had before about Brian and how the dog unknowingly answered those concerns during his confrontation with Quagmire. Eventually, he felt like he had to speak up about it. There was too much on his mind to completely ignore it.

"Hey, Bry?"

The canine looked down at the boy in his arms.

"Hmmm?"

The child looked up to meet the dog's eyes.

"I just wanted you to know that, even though what happened with Quagmire was horrible, I appreciate the things you said about me. That really meant a lot."

Brian smiled at this.

"I meant everything I said, Stewie."

The boy sat up and turned so that he could better face the canine.

"I know."

Stewie looked down, contemplating whether or not to fully voice what was on his mind or not. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that now was probably the best time to bring the subject matter up. He looked back up at the dog seriously.

"To be honest, Brian. There have been moments, brief moments, where I've wondered whether or not this relationship could last. I mean, there are a ton of complications. Mostly, though, I think back on all your past relationships, and that's…scary sometimes. I don't want to end up like them, Brian, and to hear you say that I won't with such conviction, it…was exactly what I needed to hear."

While he was glad that Stewie appreciated what he had said, Brian couldn't help but frown at the notion that the child was actually doubting whether or not he'd stick around.

"Stewie, why would you worry about that at all? I know that in the past there have been moments where I've mistreated you, but I thought that I made it clear that things were different now."

He reached out and grabbed boy's shoulder.

"I would never do that to you. The last thing I want to do is hurt you again."

The boy placed his hand over the dog's paw before explaining.

"I've heard you make similar promises before, Brian, and while it was clear that things were most likely different this time, you can't blame me for having my doubts. I mean, look at me! I'm…"

The canine cut him off.

"You're beautiful."

The baby blushed and cleared his throat before continuing.

"What I was going to say is that…I'm not your regular type, Brian, and like you said, you've mistreated me in the past. I had every right to worry that it could happen again. Not that I was always an angel to you or anything. I've done things to you that I regret and wish I could take back."

The dog tilted his head at this, not sure what things Stewie could be referring to.

"Like what?"

The infant chuckled sarcastically.

"Oh, I don't know, Brian. What about the time I cut off your tail when you were on that date with that blind girl, or even better, what about the time that I actually considered, even for a brief moment, killing you because Penelope wanted me to. Hell, I've beaten you up on more than one occasion, Bry."

Brian let go of the child's shoulder as he remembered the incidents that Stewie had mentioned. He thought back on those times, and he began to see the child's point. Still, Stewie hadn't killed him. The boy had fought to protect him, and any physical pain that the baby might have caused him probably paled in comparison to the emotional and physical pain he himself had caused the infant in the past. The dog sighed.

_I need to do this now._

He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small box wrapped as a gift. The child's eyes lit up at the sight, realizing that Brian had gotten him something. Brian held the box out to the child.

"I was going to save this for later, as a sort of capper for our evening, but now seems like the best time to give it to you so…"

He placed the box in the boy's hand.

"Here you go."

The baby quickly tore the wrapping paper away to find that it had been concealing a ring case. He opened the case and gasped at the sight of a plain silver ring. It wasn't anything grand, but just the fact that the dog had gotten him something like this was enough to make the infant's heart melt. Brian smiled at the boy's reaction to the gift.

"I got this for you as a symbol of my devotion to you. By giving you this ring, I'm promising that, from now on, I'm yours, and I'm not leaving you for anything. It's nothing fancy, but then again, neither am I, and you accept me anyway."

The canine reached out and took the ring from the case before taking the child's hand and sliding it on his ring finger. The baby laughed joyously, and Brian wrapped his paw around the child's hand.

"I want things to be different from now on. I know there's a lot of hurt in the past, and we've both done things that we regret, but we can start repairing the damage now. This is a new chapter for us."

He let go of the boy's hand and watched as the child began looking at the ring on his finger.

"I…I don't know what to say. I'm overwhelmed."

All of a sudden, a thought occurred to the boy.

"Wait a second. How the hell did you manage to find a ring like this that was my size?"

The dog laughed.

"It's custom made. I measured your ring size a couple of nights ago back when I came up with the idea. I just wanted you to have something that showed how serious I am about my relationship with you."

The infant nodded his head but didn't respond, too busy inspecting the ring on his finger to say anything. After about a minute, Brian cleared his throat and reached up to rub the back of his neck.

"So? Do you like it?"

The baby scoffed at the question and smiled at the mutt.

"As if you had to ask! Of course, I like it! I freakin' love it!"

He jumped into the dog's lap and hugged him tightly. The canine was caught off guard at first but quickly returned the affectionate hug. After a while, the child pulled away, sporting what was quite possibly the biggest and most sincere grin he'd ever had.

"Thank you, Brian. Thank you for doing this, and thank you for choosing me, even knowing the complications involved. You mean everything to me, and there's nothing in the world that makes me happier than knowing that we're together, and I'm going to make sure that we're able to stay together."

The dog wasn't sure exactly what the kid meant with that last part, but he decided to not worry about it, instead chuckling at the huge smile on the infant's face before replying.

"Don't mention it, Kid. I know that being with you will be far from normal and that it might even be frustrating at times having to worry about keeping it a secret and having to restrain myself when others are around, but frankly…"

He leaned his forehead against the infant's and lowered his voice to a low whisper.

"You're more than worth the trouble."

The tone of the dog's voice sent a shiver down Stewie's spine, and he began to realize just how close their bodies were, how firmly he was pressed up against the canine. He began breathing heavily as he felt his need for the dog growing. The dog picked up on this quickly. The sexual tension building in the air was obvious, and Brian saw no sense in keeping the boy waiting any longer. Without hesitation, he pushed his lips against Stewie's and kissed the child fiercely, hungrily. Stewie didn't miss a beat, immediately accepting and returning the kiss, driving his tongue past the dog's lips and as far as he could into the mutt's mouth. The boy grabbed on to the dog's muzzle and pushed his head back into the couch, pinning the canine to the purple piece of furniture. Brian wrapped his arms around the infant and began running his paws up and down the child's back, moaning earnestly as he felt his desires, the desires he had fought so hard to suppress while the family was at home, completely consume him. He began kissing the infant over and over, making a loud smacking sound every time he pushed in and pulled his lips away. Stewie could hardly keep up with the animal as he was assaulted by the barrage of kisses. All he could do was accept the treatment and revel in the love and affection he was receiving from his partner. Eventually, Brian's kisses began to slow down before he went in for one last deep, slow, passionate make out session, and the child kissed back, pulling on the canine's tie to deepen the kiss. They stayed like that for a while, exploring the confines of each other's mouths and savoring the fine taste of one another. The time eventually came for them to pull apart for air. The dog bite down on the boy's lip gently and sucked on it for a few seconds before pulling away, breathing heavily, eyes dark and clouded with lust. The infant was entranced by Brian's eyes. The way the dog was looking at him was just too much. He needed things to go further. He needed Brian to take him again. The child smirked at the dog and whispered to him seductively.

"Shall we take this upstairs?"

A devilish smile formed on the canine's face as he stood up from the couch, picking Stewie up with him. The boy let out a tiny squeal at the sudden movement, and the canine chuckled darkly at the sound. Without a word, he turned to head up the stairs, carrying the infant bridal style as he made his way into the upstairs hallway and over to the door that led into the child's bedroom. Stewie turned the knob, and Brian pushed his way into the room, kicking the door shut behind him and collapsing to the floor to continue making out with his partner. From that point on, everything became a haze of lips and teeth and tongues, with the only sounds in the room coming from the smacking of their lips and the occasional interspersal of intense moaning and heavy breathing. Stewie began tearing away at the canine's clothing, frantically removing the dog's tie before sloppily unbuttoning his shirt and jacket. Brian helped the infant with the task of removing his clothing, pulling the sleeves from his arms and tossing the shirt and jacket across the room before going back to the task of smothering his lover with kisses. The child began running his fingers through the dog's fur, grabbing handfuls at a time and enjoying the softness and comfort it provided when it touched his skin. Brian shivered at the touch, and he could feel himself beginning to get hard as the situation continued to escalate. Stewie felt a hardness pressing up against his thigh and smirked, knowing the best was yet to come. He reached down and gripped the dog's erection through the fabric, stroking it slowly with his thumb. Brian pulled his mouth away from the child's and sat up before hurriedly undoing his pants and kicking them off, freeing his semi-hard erection. They both froze for a second, Stewie because he was transfixed by the sight before him and Brian because it had finally occurred to him that this was the first time he had ever been exposed like this in front of Stewie while sober. He could feel himself blushing at the realization, but he was too fucking horny to give a damn about feeling embarrassed, not to mention that the look in Stewie's eyes made it very clear that he had nothing to worry about. Unsurprisingly, the kid wanted this just as bad as he did, perhaps even more than he did, and that was a huge turn on. The child began crawling over toward him, and Brian began panting in anticipation of what the boy was going to do. Stewie reached the area between the dog's legs and smiled up at the canine before reaching out and gingerly stoking the animal's member with the tips of his fingers. It shuddered at his touch, and the infant couldn't help but giggle. This slow progression was beginning to aggravate Brian somewhat, and he couldn't help but growl lowly at the teasing touches to his most sensitive organ.

"Come on, Stewie! If you're going to do something, do it! You're killing me here!'

The boy laughed and shot his eyes up to look at the dog with a playful, fake glare.

"Hmph. Well, now I'm not too sure I want to do anything with someone who's going to have that attitude."

The canine rolled his eyes at this, realizing that he was going to have to play along if he wanted the child to continue.

"I'm…I'm sorry. Ok? Now…"

The dog forced a cheesy smile onto his face.

"Will you pleeeeease stop teasing me and suck my cock already?"

The false look of anger fell away from the baby's face as he burst into laughter at the ridiculous sight.

_Oh my god! He's so weird!_

The boy quickly got over his giggle fit so that he could answer the poor mutt.

"I'm sorry, Bry. I promise, I won't torture you any longer."

With that, the child reached out and took a hold of the dog's penis with both his hands and began working it up and down at a nice steady pace. The canine's tongue immediately fell out of his mouth as he began panting loudly. He fell to his back and closed his eyes, focusing only on the pleasure he was receiving from his partner. He still couldn't figure out what it was about the way that Stewie handled his dick that was so different from everyone else he had ever been with, but there was no doubt in his mind that Stewie had an uncanny talent when it came to giving him handjobs. There was so much care and affection involved in the task, and it drove the dog insane. Stewie could tell that Brian was really enjoying his treatment, and it filled his heart with pride to know that he could make his lover feel so good. Spurred on by the canine's panting, the boy began to pump the member faster, and Brian's leg began twitching in response to the sudden increase in speed.

"Ohhhh, yeah!"

The dog's penis was quickly becoming harder, and it wouldn't be much longer before it was fully erect. Seeing this, Stewie decided it was time to proceed to the next step. He lowered his hands and gripped the lower half of the dog's rod before taking a breath and enveloping as much of the member as he could into his mouth. The canine dug his claws into the carpeted floor, overwhelmed by the feeling of having his penis in the baby's mouth.

"Ahhh! Fuck, Stewie!"

The boy smiled around the dick in his mouth and began bobbing his head up and down while tenderly licking the underside of the shaft and tasting the dog's essence that was practically pouring out of the tip. As he did this, he continued massaging the areas of Brian's member that he couldn't reach with one hand and reached down with the other to fondle the canine's balls, hoping to coax even more liquid out of the canine. The dog grunted loudly and began bucking his hips upwards, humping the infant's mouth with as much restraint as he could muster so as not to hurt Stewie in any way. It took the child a couple of moments to get his bobbing to sync up with the canine's thrusting, but he eventually found the proper rhythm before proceeding to speed up, ramming the dog's cock as far as he could down his throat without gagging. As he did this, he couldn't help but think that he was going to need a lot more practice before he was able to get the entirety of Brian's member in his mouth. He laughed to himself at the thought.

_I always did like a challenge._

The animal's pre-cum was beginning to flood the boy's mouth, leaking out of the edges, forcing him to swallow what he had and release the dog's member from his mouth so he could get some air, but he made sure to continue tending to the dog's needs as he began licking the side of the shaft up and down, mixing it up a little by circling his tongue around the cock before switching to the opposite side and repeating the process over again. After a while, the child took another deep breath and retook the penis into his mouth. He felt the dog's paws grab on to his wig covered head and begin moving it up and down at a rapid pace. The canine's breathing became husky as he began to lose what little restraint he had left. He chuckled darkly, forced the boy to take as much of his cock as was possible for one so small. Stewie allowed the mutt to take control of the blowjob and instead began focusing all his attention on tending to the areas he couldn't quite reach with his mouth. He began pumping the canine's member frantically, and he could feel the ball sack in his hand beginning to tense up as the animal's orgasm became more and more imminent. Just when he thought the dog was about to reach his climax, he felt the dick in his mouth being forcefully removed and his hands being pushed away. He looked up with a curious look on his face, wondering why Brian had put a sudden stop to their fun. Seeing the question in Stewie's eyes, Brian smirked and replied, voice low with lust.

"I'm not ready for this to end yet."

With those words, the canine pounced on top of the child, startling the infant, and began kissing him again, a low growl reverberating in his throat as he attacked the boy's mouth eagerly, shoving his tongue down the infant's throat. It took Stewie a moment to process the sudden position change, but eventually, he began to kiss back, lashing at the dog's tongue with his own, fighting him for dominance in the kiss. Brian started out strong, but it wasn't long before the child began to overpower him, pushing the canine's tongue back and forcing his own further into the dog's mouth. Still, Brian was holding strong and showed no signs of giving up the fight. The wheels in Stewie's head began to turn as he tried to come up with a plan to defeat the mutt, and once he had a strategy, he couldn't help but smirk in anticipation of his triumph. The boy kicked off his shoes, raised his feet, and began rubbing them up and down the length of the dog's penis. The canine was taken off guard, and he couldn't help but let out a throaty moan at the sudden friction down below. Seizing the opportunity, Stewie forced his tongue all the way into Brian's mouth and pushed the dog over, causing them both to roll over so that now the canine was on the bottom and the child was on top. The animal's eyes went wide at the sudden shift in power, but Stewie paid him no mind as he went even further, grabbing the dog by the arms and pinning him in place while continuing to massage the mutt's nether regions with his feet. With his partner now trapped, the little demon child continued his assault, kissing the dog with so much force that Brian could hardly lift his head. The mutt tried to fight back for a few seconds more before realizing it was useless. Stewie had won, and all he could do now was allow the boy to have his way with him, not that the canine minded that much. The kid was fucking talented.

_I guess if I was going to end up with a boyfriend, it's a good thing I ended up with one who was damn good in the sack!_

After what felt like several minutes, Stewie finally let up, releasing the dog's arms and ending their kiss. The infant sat up in the dog's lap, smirking down at him with a dark look of triumph in his eyes.

"How was that, Dog?"

The canine was panting heavily and too dazed to answer right away. When he'd finally pulled himself together, there was only one thing he could say in response.

"Wow…"

The child chuckled and began running his fingers through the fur on the dog's chest.

"You're damn right 'wow'."

He leaned down and began trailing kisses along the canine's collar bone, eventually working his way up the dog's head and stopping to nibble on his ear. Brian moaned at the delicate kisses his partner was laying on him before reaching up, grabbing the boy's legs, and running his paws up and down them gently, going higher and higher each time until he was rubbing the infant's thighs. He could feel the fabric of the panties the baby was wearing along with the erect penis they were currently the concealing. Stewie gasped at the sudden contact, unable to stop himself from humping into the dog's paw. The boy had been so focused on pleasuring Brian that he had hardly noticed his own raging erection, but now that the dog was practically fondling him, he could ignore it no longer. He continued to hump the dog slowly, letting out high pitched whimpers as his need continued to grow. He looked at the dog, begging him with his eyes.

"B-Brian, please?"

The canine nodded his head in understanding and began to lift the dress up and over the baby's head, pulling it off, along with the wig, and tossing the two items to the side. With the infant now in only a pair of white panties, the animal reached a paw into them and began to massage the boy's small member. Stewie scooted himself further up the dog's torso and leaned forward so that the canine had better access to his need. The dog tilted his head up and kissed the infant as he began slowly jerking the child off. Stewie kissed the dog back and continued thrusting his pelvis forward into the paw that was currently pleasuring him. This went on for a while before a thought suddenly occurred to Brian. He wanted to try something, something he'd never thought he'd want to do, but right now, he couldn't ignore the growing temptation. He stopped kissing the boy and removed his paw from the child's underwear. Stewie's immediate response was to pout at the canine in disappointment. Brian chuckled at this.

"I'm not done with you yet, Kid. Don't worry."

The dog gripped the sides of the boy's panties and began to slowly pull them off. The child assisted in the removal of his final article of clothing, and it wasn't long before he was reveling in the feeling of his bare, naked body on top of the warm, soft canine. Brian grabbed the boy by his hips and pulled him up so that the child was now sitting on the upper part of his chest. Stewie was extremely curious to find out what Brian was up to, and it all became clear once he saw the animal raise his head up and place his mouth mere inches away from his penis. The kid could feel the canine's hot breath on the skin below his waist, and he shivered. He looked down, and his eyes met the dog's.

"Are…are you really?"

Brian nodded, smirking up at the boy.

"It's not exactly fair if I don't do it to you, too, right?"

The child giggled, not believing that Brian, Mr. Skirt Chaser, was actually about to suck his first cock. He pressed his pelvis forward, touching the canine's lips with the tip of his member before folding his arms and staring down at the dog in an authoritative manor.

"Well…if you're gonna do something, do it!"

Brian didn't need to be told twice, he stared at the penis in front of him awkwardly and took a breath.

_Here goes nothing._

In the next instant, he'd taken the entirety of Stewie's rod into his mouth and begun sucking for all he was worth, determined to do a good job and drive the infant on top of him crazy. Stewie unfolded his arms and leaned back, propping himself up on his elbows and throwing his head back as he began hissing in response to the amazing feeling of having his dick sucked by his lover.

"Ahhhh! That's right! Suck on it you horny animal!

With no one around to overhear him, Stewie held nothing back as he began whimpering incredibly loudly while also screaming various exclamatory statements in a show of his great satisfaction. Brian rolled his eyes at the infant's display, but he couldn't deny the pride he was feeling as he listened to the sounds he was coaxing out of his partner. With a newfound confidence, he began licking the penis in his mouth, running his tongue up and down the short length at a steady rhythm. At this, Stewie lost the strength to continue holding himself up and fell on his back, unable to stop himself from screaming the dog's name in appreciation.

"Ohhhh! God! Yes! Brian! Fuck! Good dog!"

The pleasure was almost too intense, and the infant could feel his orgasm fast approaching. While it was incredibly tempting to let things continue to their inevitable climax, to allow the love of his life to suck him to completion, he knew that there were still better things for them to do, so he conjured up what little strength he could and sat up to look at the dog.

"B-Brian! I'm close! Pull it out!"

Brian was too caught up in his task to notice Stewie urging him to stop, so the child had to grab the mutt's head and push him away in order to get his penis free from the tortuous vacuum of the canine's mouth. The dog looked up at the infant, who was breathing heavily and trying to compose himself enough to move on to the next step. The sight was a huge turn on for the dog, seeing the boy covered in sweat, practically in a daze, and panting for breath. He licked his lips, knowing that he couldn't hold back any longer. He sat up, allowing the child to slide down into his lap as he leaned over and whispered into the baby's ear.

"I need you… _now_."

The infant looked up at the animal and nodded his head.

"Take me again, Brian."

With the order given, Brian set Stewie down on the floor and walked over to the child's crib. He let down the bars of the crib and set to work with the task of moving the mattress, sheets, and pillows onto the floor. While Brian did that, Stewie ran over to the rug on his floor that concealed his hidden safe to retrieve an item he had been saving. By the time, Brian had gotten the mattress in place, Stewie had returned holding a tube of something. The dog looked at it and immediately recognized what it was.

"We didn't use that last time. I thought my saliva worked just fine as a lubricant."

The infant shrugged.

"I didn't really have a chance to get this last time, and while your saliva worked well enough…"

The boy looked down and shuffled his feet, blushing.

"…I've been wanting to use this for a while."

The dog chuckled and grabbed the tube from the baby's hands before pointing at the mattress.

"Get your fine ass on the bed."

Without hesitation, Stewie jumped onto the mattress. He rolled over and spread his legs, trying his best to look alluring to the canine, and from the look in the dog's eyes, he was succeeding. Brian kneeled down onto the mattress and crawled over until he was above his lover. He gave the boy a quick peck on the lips before sitting up and squirting some of the lube onto a couple of his fingers. He set the tube down and positioned his fingers at Stewie's entrance. He looked at the boy seriously.

"Ready?"

The baby nodded eagerly and relaxed his muscles, leaning his head back on the pillow and closing his eyes. Satisfied, the dog slowly began inserting one of his fingers into the child's asshole. The boy grunted in slight discomfort but made no move to stop the canine from going any further. Eventually, Brian had his entire finger inserted inside Stewie. He held it there for a moment, allowing the baby to get used to the intrusion before beginning to move it around in a circular motion to loosen up the tight pucker. It wasn't long before he heard a low moan coming from the infant, signaling that he was enjoying the treatment. The canine smiled at this and prepared to insert his second finger. After a few more moments, he began pushing another finger into the child. The baby tensed up a little but quickly relaxed again as the dog continued to push the finger all the way in in one slow, constant motion. Before Stewie even realized it, he had two of Brian's fingers completely inside of him, and it felt incredible. He opened his eyes and looked at the dog, showing the canine that he was alright. Seeing the smile on Stewie's face, Brian moved on to the next step. He began scissoring the boy's hole, loosening it up even more than it already was. While he was doing this, his finger eventually brushed up against something inside the child, causing the infant to gasp and moan loudly.

"Ohhhhh, Brian!"

Seeing Stewie's reaction, the dog had a pretty good idea of what he had just hit. He chuckled and continued to stroke the sensitive area as he kept on with his task of loosening up the boy. The child grabbed on tightly to the sheets beneath him and continued letting the canine know how much he was enjoying himself.

"Mmmmm! That's right! Rrright…THERE!"

Brian kept on for several minutes, relishing the sounds of his lover and making sure that he was properly prepared for the main event. Once he was satisfied with his progress, he pulled his fingers out of the infant, earning a low moan of disappointment from the child as he did so. Not wanting to keep his lover waiting any longer than necessary, the dog quickly picked up the tube again and squirted some more of the lube onto his paw before setting to work and covering the entirety of his dick with the substance. He looked down at his expectant lover and smiled at him.

"Hang on, Babe. I'm almost ready."

Upon hearing the canine using such a pet name while addressing him, Stewie quickly forgot about his slight disappointment. The closest thing to a pet name Brian had ever used for him was simply referring to him as 'kid', and while that was nice, it was nicer to have the dog using a more affectionate name for him for a change.

_I wonder what other names he'll come up with in the future._

The boy didn't have too much time to think about that, though, since the dog had made quick work of lubing up his cock and was in the final stages of preparing to put it inside the child. Stewie felt the tip of the dog's member touch him and shuddered at the contact. Brian grabbed the infant by his legs and lifted him up to better align himself with the kid's hole. He placed the tip of his dick at the child's entrance and met the boy's eyes with his own. The baby smiled at him and nodded his head, giving the ok for his lover to claim him for the second time. With the green light given, Brian began to slowly push his rod into the baby. He hissed at the feeling of having his dick gripped so tightly and closed his eyes.

"Ahhhh! Shit! I forgot how fucking tight you are!"

The infant was panting heavily, but that didn't stop him from coming back with a witty retort.

"I…I b-believe that's bec-because you were drunk off your ass the last time…the last time we did this."

The dog chuckled at the boy's remark but made no effort to come up with his own come back, too caught up in the pleasure of being inside Stewie to give a damn whether or not the child won a verbal sparring session. He instead said nothing and continued to push himself inside the baby, inch by inch. It seemed to take forever, but he eventually got his entire dick inside Stewie, all the way up to his knot. He knew going any further would be courting disaster. The fit was snug enough already. There was no way this kid could take him completely, not that he needed him to in order for this to be satisfying, because it undoubtedly was, but that was at least something to look forward to, the day that he'd be able to tie himself to the kid and truly make him his bitch. It was with that thought that the canine chuckled darkly and began slowly thrusting in and out of the infant beneath him. Stewie hummed happily at the intense feeling of the dog's dick moving inside of him.

"Ahhhh, Brian! That feels wonderful!"

The canine hummed in agreement and steadily began speeding up his thrusts, taking care to stop every time his knot came into contact with the child's ass. He let go of the child's legs and leaned over him, panting heavily, tongue hanging out. He licked the infant's face and began moving faster, pounding away at the child and grunting with each thrust.

"Ungh! Fuck, Stewie!"

The baby reached up and wrapped his arms around the canine's neck, pulling him closer and molding their bodies together as they both continued to moan in appreciation of the incredible pleasure they were receiving from each other. Brian wrapped his arms around the child and stood up on his hind legs as he continued rapidly thrusting in and out of the boy. Suddenly, the child let out a rather high pitched squeal and began moving his body in time with the canine's thrusts.

"Oh! God! Brian, keep it right there! It feels amazing when you hit me right there!"

Realizing, that he'd found the proper angle to hit the infant's sweet spot, Brian began fucking the boy as fast as he could, stabbing the child's prostate over and over. Stewie dug his fingers into the animal's skin and wrapped his legs around the canine's waist as he bucked his body against the mutt, grinding himself roughly against the dog's stomach. The boy tilted his head and kissed Brian passionately as he began to lose himself in the overwhelming pleasure of being claimed by his lover. The dog kissed back with just as much ferocity, moaning eagerly and growling lowly as he was consumed with desire and the need to mate with his partner. They kept this up for a good while, Brian fucking the boy with everything he had, Stewie humping into the dog's warm fur covered stomach, and the both of them making out like mad, completely lost in each other. They could both feel the pressure building up in their loins, but it was Stewie who was the first to realize he wasn't going to last much longer. He tore his lips away from the animal on top of him and began speaking in-between pants.

"I'm…I'm almost…almost there!"

The dog nodded and pecked the boy on the lips one more time.

"Cum for me, Kid."

At hearing those words coming from his lover's deep, sexy voice, Stewie was only able to hump the dog's stomach a couple more times before achieving orgasm.

"Good, Lord!"

His body began spasming as wave after wave of intense pleasure washed over him. Brian felt the child's muscles contracting and squeezing him so tight it was almost painful. He was only able to get in a few more good thrusts before shoving his dick in as far as he could and exploding inside the baby.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Stream after stream of hot cum began flooding inside the child, prolonging the boy's orgasm as he felt the intense warmth overfilling him. He continued humping into the dog's fur, riding out the intense waves of pleasure and savoring every moment of them. Brian collapsed on top his of partner as he continued to shoot his essence into the boy. He buried his face into the child's shoulder, breathing heavily. He shot the last of his cum into the infant, slowly thrusting in and out as he milked his climax for all it was worth. Finally, he had no more to give the baby, so he pulled out of the child and rolled over onto his back. They both just lay there, practically unmoving, for several minutes as they came down from their incredible orgasms. After a few minutes, Brian turned his head to look over at the baby beside him. Stewie felt the dog's eyes on him and turned to meet the canine's gaze. The dog rolled to his side, pulled the infant against his body, and gave the baby a quick kiss before speaking.

"That was amazing, Kid."

The child smiled lightly at the animal beside him.

"Yeah."

It was all that Stewie could think to say as he lay there basking in the afterglow of his incredibly passionate and satisfying sexual encounter with his lover. He nestled his head against the canine's chest and began running his hands through the animal's fur covered belly, petting him affectionately. Brian moaned happily at the touch, leg twitching weakly and tail wagging slowly. The boy laughed at his partner's display before pulling himself away from the dog and sitting up.

"I don't know about you, but I could use a smoke after that."

The canine rolled back onto his back and folded his arms up under his head, smirking at the infant.

"I thought you only smoked when you drink?

The boy chuckled, shoving the mutt a little in a playful manner.

"That and after really phenomenal sex, and I think this sort of qualifies as the latter, don't you?"

The dog nodded and sat up.

"Definitely. A smoke sounds great, Babe."

There it was again, that pet name, and the infant couldn't help but smile a little goofily at hearing it. He quickly turned his face away from his partner before standing to go retrieve his pack of Marlboro's from the safe in his floor. He could feel the dog's cum leaking out of him, and it caused him to walk a little awkwardly as he stepped off of the mattress. As soon as he was off the mattress, he felt a paw smack his ass. He turned to see the dog starring at his behind and shook it a little for the mutt before walking over to his safe. He reached down into the still-open safe and picked up the cigarette pack and a lighter, and then, turned to rejoin his partner in the bed. He sat back down on the mattress and pulled out two cigarettes. He handed one to the dog and held out the lighter for him. The canine allowed him to light his cigarette before lying back down and taking a huge drag off of it. Stewie then proceeded to light his own cigarette before placing the rest of the pack and the lighter on the floor beside the mattress. He lied down next to his lover and the two of them said nothing for a while, content to just smoke beside one another and enjoy one another's company. When they did finally start speaking again, it was Stewie who initiated the conversation.

"We really should do this more often."

The canine smiled at the thought but then frowned when he remembered why he and Stewie hardly ever got to spend time together like this. He rolled over and looked at the boy seriously.

"I wish we could, Stewie…but the family."

The infant rolled over, too, before responding.

"Brian, I get it, and I'm not mad at you for being cautious about that, but…I mean…sometimes it feels like you're too cautious about this. I can't stand faking how I feel about you when they're around, but it's not just when they're around, you'll hardly do anything with me if they're simply in the house."

The baby took another drag and sighed, expelling smoke as he did so.

"I just wish you wouldn't worry so much. As long as we're careful, no one will ever find out about this, and I'm certainly someone who knows how to keep a secret or two. There's already a ton our family doesn't know about me, what's one more thing going to hurt. As long as we act normally, or I guess what qualifies as normally for us or whatever, as long as we act normally around them, we should be free to do whatever we want in private, especially in our own freakin' bedroom."

The canine listened intently to what the boy was saying, but at that last statement he couldn't help but smile at the thought as he whispered it again to himself.

"Our bedroom."

The child heard him and smiled back.

"Yeah."

The dog looked down for a moment, thinking. After a few seconds, he looked back up at the baby.

"You're right. We have just as much right as anyone else to express how we feel, and I shouldn't be so paranoid about things. I promise I'll work on that if it'll make you happy."

With that, Brian finished up his cigarette, reached over, and set the butt of it on top of the pack on the floor. Stewie soon followed suit before rolling over and allowing his partner to spoon against him. He eventually felt his blanket being pulled up to cover them along with the dog's arms wrapping around him protectively and pulling him into a spooning position. The infant sighed happily.

"Thank you, Brian."

The canine placed his nose against the child's head and inhaled deeply before kissing the top of his partner's head.

"Don't mention it, Kid."

With nothing more to say, they both closed their eyes and relaxed, drifting off into a deep, peaceful sleep and wishing it could always be like this.


	6. Part VI

The next morning, Brian woke up to the shrill sound of his phone ringing, the noise hurting his ears slightly. He groaned at the unwanted interruption to his slumber and shook his head before slowly opening his eyes and yawning. He sat up and scanned the room, trying to find the source of the sound. Eventually, he realized it was coming from behind him. He turned and saw his pants from last night lying on the ground a couple of feet away from the mattress. He propped himself up on his arm and reached over, hearing his joints crack as he stretched his arms, before patting the pants, trying to determine which pocket had his phone in it. All this shuffling around eventually woke up his partner. Stewie opened his eyes slowly, frowning at the annoying ringing sound in his ears. He rolled over and began speaking groggily.

"Brian, will you get that?"

The canine rolled his eyes as he reached into the appropriate pocket to retrieve his phone.

"That's kind of what I'm trying to do."

He grabbed the phone, sat back down on the mattress, and answered it.

"Uh. Hello?"

The dog tensed up once he heard the voice of Lois respond.

"Brian? Hey! Where have you been? I called you about four times this morning."

The canine chuckled nervously, finding it incredibly awkward to be talking to the woman while he was still in the bed with her infant son. Stewie heard the voice of his mother and sighed, but then, as he was looking around the room, he saw the tent that Brian was currently pitching with his morning wood. He smiled devilishly and reached a hand under the sheet to grab it. Brian had to fight to suppress the moan in his throat brought on by the feeling of his lover grabbing his erection. As the child began pumping his member up and down, Lois's voice spoke over the phone again.

"Brian?"

The dog shook his head and tried to ignore the infant currently giving him a handjob as he replied.

"Oh, sorry, Lois. I kind of just woke up. My phone was on the charger downstairs, and I slept upstairs, so I didn't hear it the other times you called."

He chuckled under his breath, hoping that the woman would buy his excuse for not answering her earlier. There was a pause on the other end, and Brian gulped. Stewie was still working wonders on his dick, and it was becoming harder to keep himself under control. Suddenly, he felt the blanket being pulled off of him. He looked over and saw the baby crawling over to the area between his legs. He shot the boy a warning look and covered the receiver so Lois wouldn't hear what he said next.

"Don't. You. Dare."

The infant pouted at him innocently.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He then chuckled darkly before grabbing the dog's wood again and leaning his head down to lick the side of it. The dog hissed under his breath just as Lois finally responded to him.

"Sorry, Brian. It's difficult to talk right now. We're at Kings Island, and well…you know how Peter gets at amusement parks. Anyway, I just called to check in and to let you know that we settled the thing with that woman Peter thought broke into our garage and that we'll be coming home around noon tomorrow."

There was a pause before Lois spoke again.

"Actually, it's almost noon right now. Have you checked on Stewie any today?"

It took a second for Brian to answer. While Lois was busy talking, the kid had moved on and taken the canine's penis into his mouth, and the dog found it really hard to concentrate on talking to Lois while he was being given, what was quite possibly one of the best blowjobs he had ever experienced, by her son. His heart was beating frantically, afraid that he'd accidently make some kind of sound that would give away what was going on, but that extra element of danger was turning out to be an incredibly huge turn on. He couldn't deny that, despite being annoyed with the boy initially, he was beginning to love this. He gripped the sheet beneath him as tight as he could with his free paw and replied through gritted teeth.

"Oh, uh. No. Not really. Like I said, I've been asleep, but…"

He gulped swallowing a moan that came dangerously close to spilling out of his mouth.

"Stewie's been asleep, too, and I slept in his room. You know, to keep an eye on him through the night. He's safe and sound in his crib, sleeping like a baby."

He laughed, probably louder than he originally intended.

"You know, because he is a baby, and he's sleeping, right now. I'm looking at him."

Brian could hear Lois screaming about something going on on the other end of the phone, and he could tell that she was barely paying attention to what he was saying.

_Thank, God!_

Brian could feel an orgasm approaching, but he gathered all of his strength and held it back. After a few seconds, Lois began talking again.

"Ok, Brian. Like I said, I was just calling to check in. Take good care of my little man. Ok?"

The boy drove the dog's dick as far as he could down his throat, which was actually further than he had been able to last time. He laughed to himself.

_I'm getting better at this!_

Brian covered the receiver and released a moan that he just couldn't contain. He couldn't hold back anymore. He put the phone back up to his head and quickly answered.

"O-Of course. Sure, thing, Lois. I've got it under control."

After the boy gave a final squeeze to his lover's balls, the dog could no longer hold back the impending eruption.

"Bye!"

He slammed the phone shut, tossed it down on the mattress, and began cumming in the baby's mouth.

"Ohhhhh, God!"

The child swallowed as much of the load as he could, but it eventually got to a point where he had to release the member in his mouth so as to avoid choking on the semen. The last few spurts of the dog's release ended up landing on the boy's face and chest. As his climax tapered off, Brian laid back down on the mattress, trying to recuperate his strength. He looked at the child between his legs and watched as the kid eagerly began cleaning himself up by scooping up the excess semen and swallowing it. It was one of the hottest things Brian had ever seen. He smirked.

_That's right you little slut. Eat my spunk._

Stewie saw the canine watching him and smiled in the animal's direction as he finished cleaning up what little he could of the mess on his body. He finished and crawled back over to his partner, still sticky from the ejaculate. Brian could see that the child was practically glistening due to the small traces of semen still on him. He laughed and pecked the boy on the lips before speaking.

"It looks like someone needs a bath."

The baby's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"It looks like we both need a bath."

He scooted in closer to the animal and whispered into his ear.

"You know, it'll save water if we share."

The canine shuddered, liking where this was going. Without another word, he immediately sat up and picked up his lover before carrying him bridal style out the door and into the bathroom down the hall.

* * *

Brain and Stewie emerged from the bathroom a couple of hours later, and after quickly getting themselves ready for the day, which included Brian going ahead and setting an alarm in his phone for tomorrow morning, they headed out into town to grab a late lunch. They eventually settled on going through the drive thru of a fast food restaurant and just bringing their food back home so they could spend the rest of the evening at the house. After they ate their food, they mostly spent the next several hours on the couch watching TV together. It ended up being a normal lazy Saturday. Eventually, it was time to start thinking about what to do for dinner. Brian and Stewie weren't exactly starving since they had eaten so late in the day, but they could feel the beginnings of evening hunger creeping up on them. They settled on the convenience of ordering a pizza, and about an hour later, it arrived. Brian paid the delivery boy and walked over to join his partner on the couch. He opened the box, and they each took a slice. Brian wrapped an arm around Stewie and sighed happily, barely focusing on the program that was currently playing on the television.

_This is how I wish it could always be, just me and Stewie living together, not having to worry about what others think, just like in my dreams. Maybe when the kid is older…_

At that thought, Brian frowned. He began to think about how young Stewie was and how old he was for a dog, and then, it hit him, a fact that he had been trying to ignore ever since he'd begun having those dreams of him and Stewie living together.

_I'm not going to be around for most of his life._

His heart sunk, and he looked down at the boy in his arms who was happily eating pizza and watching TV, not a care in the world. Just that sight alone was enough to cheer him up slightly. He decided to not focus on such a depressing thought. It was a major complication in their relationship, one that would need to be addressed at some point, but right now, the last thing he wanted was to bring something up that would take that adorable grin off his lover's face.

_I may not be around forever, but I can still make the best of the time I have, for both me and Stewie._

He pulled the child in closer and squeezed him affectionately. The baby looked up at him, mouth full and smiling goofily. The canine laughed.

"I love you, Kid."

The infant swallowed before responding.

"I love you, too, Brian."

With that said, they both went back to watching the television. A couple of hours went by, and it was beginning to get late. Brian and Stewie had long since finished their pizza, and they were having quite a difficult time in the task of finding something good to watch on the TV. After a while, they gave up and shut the television off. Brian looked over at Stewie and shrugged.

"Soooo? What do you wanna do now?"

The baby placed a hand on his chin, rubbing it as he thought over his partner's question.

_I guess, we could just head upstairs, finish the night with sex, and go to bed, but that sounds a little dull. I mean, this our last night together before the family gets back. We should do something special together. What would Brian want to do?_

As soon as the question popped into his head, Stewie knew what the answer was. He looked back at the canine and smiled excitedly.

"You and me, we should share a drink together."

The dog's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"R-Really?"

The baby nodded.

"The family comes home tomorrow. We should just get drunk off our asses tonight, like that time we got locked in that vault together, you know, to cap off our amazing weekend."

The canine nodded his head in agreement and leaped off of the couch before running into the kitchen to go retrieve something. About a minute later, he returned with a couple of shot glasses and a bottle of Jack Daniels. He retook his seat on the couch and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Uh, I don't know if you've ever had this, I'm guessing that you haven't, but it's the only stuff we do have, and well, it's kind of my poison of choice."

He handed the infant a shot glass and opened the bottle.

"Well, there is beer in there, but I didn't think that was quite what you had in mind when you suggested that we 'share a drink together'."

The baby tilted his head and looked at the bottle, curious. The dog held out the bottle toward him.

"Do you wanna try this, or should I just grab you a beer?"

The toddler shook his head at the notion.

"No, I'll share this with you. You're right I've never had it, but…"

He smiled warmly at his partner.

"I like trying new things with you."

The canine smiled back and poured the liquid into the glass until it was about half full before bringing the bottle over, filling his own glass, and placing the bottle down on the floor. Stewie held the substance up to his nose and took a whiff. He pulled back quickly, nose wrinkling at the scent.

_Oh, boy. What have I gotten myself into._

The dog saw the boy's reaction and chuckled.

"You don't have to drink this if you don't want to. It's pretty strong stuff."

The child shook his head again.

"No. No. I want to try it."

He raised his glass at the canine, prompting Brian to do the same.

"Cheers."

They clinked their glasses together, and the dog quickly downed his shot. Stewie followed suit, but his didn't go down as smoothly as his partner's did. As soon as the liquid hit his tongue his eyes went wide, but there was no way he was about to spit his drink out in front of Brian. He poured all of the liquid into his mouth and forced himself to swallow it all, trying his best to look like everything was fine. Once the drink was down, he began to enjoy the warm feelings it brought with it. He coughed a couple of times into his arm before shaking his head violently and looking at his partner who was laughing. The boy folded his arms, not amused in the slightest.

"What's so damn funny!?"

It took the canine a second to get over his giggle fit, but he eventually stopped laughing long enough to answer the baby.

"Oh, man! I'm sorry, Kid, but the look on your face when you took that shot was fucking priceless!"

He patted the boy on the shoulder affectionately.

"Don't worry about it, though. At least you didn't spit it out or anything, and it gets easier the more you drink it, that is, if you want to keep drinking it, but either way, I'm proud of you for trying it."

The infant unfolded his arms, no longer upset and now mainly proud of himself for conquering his first shot of Jack. He smiled and shrugged.

"It wasn't terrible or anything, and well, I do like the way it makes me feel."

The canine chuckled.

"It makes you feel good, doesn't it?"

The baby nodded, giggling.

"Yeah. It does."

He crawled over to the dog, shot glass in hand and snuggled himself into the animal's warm, fur-covered side.

"Mmmm. Your fur feels really nice."

Brian wrapped his arms around the infant and began rubbing his paw up down the child's arm.

"Mmhmm."

They stayed like that for about an hour, talking to each other and taking the occasional shot. Brian ended up stopping at four, enough to get a good buzz going for a veteran drinker like him but not so much that he was shitfaced or anything. He knew that he needed to get up fairly early tomorrow so he could clean some things up and make them presentable for when the family got home, and he wouldn't be able to do that if he had a huge hangover in the morning. Stewie had wanted to keep pace with his partner, but the dog had cut him off at three, knowing that even that was probably too much for the child. Then again, Stewie always had a way of impressing him when it came to more adult activities such as this, so maybe he should have just gone ahead and let the little guy have his forth shot. He looked down at the child and saw that the baby was staring up at him with an unusually dopey grin.

"I-I love y-you sho mush, Bry."

The canine laughed at the intoxicated infant and leaned down to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I love you, too, Babe."

The baby blushed at hearing the dog call him that. He lowered his head before replying.

"I likes it when yo-you call me that."

After a couple of seconds, the boy clumsily climbed into his partner's lap and hugged him tightly. The canine excepted the hug and sighed happily.

"I wish it could always be like this."

At hearing this, the infant pulled away. He looked confused by the canine's sudden statement.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

Brian mentally slapped himself for saying that out loud. He had thought that he had been merely thinking what he'd said, but that hadn't been the case it would seem. Now, he had to come clean with the kid about what had been bothering him earlier. He sighed and looked at the baby seriously.

"St-Stewie, you know this can't last, right?"

The child shook his head slowly, still not understanding what his partner was getting at.

"W-Why whoudn't it?"

His eyes went wide as a thought occurred to him.

"You-You're not leabing me are you?"

The dog saw tears beginning to form in the baby's eyes, and he fiercely shook his head to show that that wasn't going to happen.

"What? No. NO! I told you I wouldn't do that to you, but…"

He hesitated before continuing.

"There's going to c-come a time when I'll no longer be able to be with you, and no m-matter how much I may want for that not to be the case, there's nothing I can do about it."

The child wiped his face and looked back up at his lover, still clueless as to what the mutt was referring to.

"I doon't under-understan."

The dog sighed.

"Think about it, Stewie. I'm eight. I'm a d-dog, and I'm eight years old. You're only one. I'm not g-going to live to see you hit puberty, let alone long enough to be with you for the r-rest of your life."

At hearing this, the infant tilted his head as if he was studying the canine.

"Y-Yeah. I kn-know thaf, Bry. I'f taught about it for a…for a hile now."

He shook his head and smiled at his partner.

"I'm…I'm worfing on a sol-solusion. It's my top…top prioority."

It was Brian's turn to have wide eyes now.

"R-Really? Y-You really think you can do something about that?"

The baby batted his hand at the question.

"Bry, I'm a vucking genus, and I'm gooing to vake sure you a-and vie fave a loong and happy vuture togefer."

The child leaned forward, pressing himself insistently against his lover's torso as he whispered in the animal's ear.

"No m-matter whaf."

After that, the toddler hugged him tightly. Brian returned the hug, overjoyed and tears in his eyes. This news that Stewie had just given him put a whole new spin on their relationship. If the kid could actually come up with a solution for this problem then…then.

 _We're going to be together for a_ very  _long time._

The thought had never occurred to Brian that he would be able to stay with Stewie throughout the boy's entire life, which, now that he really thought about it, was kind of stupid since, as Stewie had said, the child was a genius. If anyone could make this work it was his Stewie. The two of them hugged each other for what felt like several minutes until the canine felt the baby beginning to hump him slowly. The infant moaned and kissed the dog's neck before moving to the dog's mouth. Their kiss was long, heated, and passionate. Eventually the infant pulled away, grinding more insistently against his lover and speaking, breath husky.

"Take me upstars, Bry. I'm soo vucking h-horny right n-now."

The canine laughed and pulled away from the baby before pressing his lips against the child's and kissing him again. After a few seconds he pulled away and got off the couch, holding the boy in his arms protectively.

"Your w-wish is my command."

With that, he carefully made his way upstairs and into his and Stewie's bedroom, ready to thank his lover for everything the boy had given him, including the promise of a long and happy future.

* * *

Brian awoke the next morning to the sound of the alarm on his phone going off, indicating that it was time to wake up and get things ready for the return of the family. He reached over, grabbed his phone, and shut off the alarm before sitting up and stretching with a big yawn. He looked over at Stewie who was still sound asleep with a huge grin plastered on his face.

_I don't want to wake him up, but I also don't really have much choice._

He placed a paw on the infant's side and pushed him gently, whispering.

"Hey, Stewie. Stewie."

The boy stirred but didn't open his eyes, instead rolling onto his other side and trying to ignore whoever it was trying to get him to wake up. This didn't deter the dog in the slightest as he placed his paw on the child again and pushed him a little harder this time.

"Stewie. Stewie, you need to get up. The family's coming home, and we can't have them here in the house the way it currently is."

The baby groaned in annoyance, but after several more seconds, he sat up anyway, rubbing his eyes, yawning, and stretching. He looked over at his partner, frowning.

"What do we need to do?"

The canine stood up off the mattress and reached a paw out to help his lover, who looked like they could use a little help.

"I'll take care of cleaning up the room. You make sure you're all cleaned up and dressed."

The toddler nodded his head in understanding before grabbing the dog's paw and allowing the animal to pull him to his feet. Once they were both standing, Brian tilted his head and initiated one last slow, sensual kiss to tide the both of them over until the next time they would be able to do something like this. After about a minute, he pulled away to see that the baby was now smiling, wide awake and, aside from a small headache, ready to get things done. The boy turned to head towards his closet, and Brian gave his partner a playful pat on the ass as a send off before setting to work on getting their room cleaned up. First, he went around the room and gathered up all of their clothes that they had scattered around the previous Friday night during their evening of pleasure. He got together all of his clothes first and ran down to the basement to toss them in the laundry basket before running back upstairs and picking up all of the various pieces that had been a part of Stewie's outfit. He hurriedly picked up the shoes, panties, and wig, but when he finally got to the blue dress he stopped and admired it for a second, remembering how amazing the child had looked in it. He began to remember all of the other outfits he had seen Stewie in in the past, and he couldn't help but anticipate all of the fun the two of them could have with them. He had to stop himself right there, though, he didn't have time to get himself worked up again. He shook his head to clear it and picked up the dress. With all of the child's items in tow, he walked over towards Stewie, who was currently using baby wipes to clean himself up, and deposited the wad of clothing by the infant's closet. He turned and looked at the boy, motioning toward the pile.

"I'm not sure what you want to do with those, so I'm just going to let you take care of it."

The baby nodded in agreement, setting the wipe he had been using down and pulling another one out.

"Alright. I still have a ways to go with this, but I'll put those up once I'm dressed. Ok?"

The canine nodded, satisfied, and walked back over to the mattress that had served as their mating ground for the past couple of days. He looked at the sheets and frowned.

_Those are going to have to be cleaned._

There was no way that he was going to be able to hide the fact that something dirty had gone down on those sheets, so he made quick work of stripping the mattress clean and wading up all the sheets into a nice ball. He then carried the sheets down into the basement and tossed them into the washing machine before, once again, running back upstairs and into his and Stewie's bedroom. He looked at the mattress and sighed.

_Shit! The moisture soaked through the sheets!_

He placed a hand on his chin as he tried to determine what his best course of action would be. After a while, he decided that the easiest thing to do was to just flip the mattress over so that the opposite side was facing up. He highly doubted that anyone but him and Stewie would be moving that mattress anytime soon, anyway.

 _That can just be our_ special  _side from now on._

He smirked at the thought before picking the mattress up, setting it on the edge of the crib, and flipping it so that the stained side was now facing down. He then picked up the pillows and tossed them into the crib. Next, he turned around and began picking up the other items on the floor like the cigarettes and the bottle of lube Stewie had convinced him to use. With the items in hand, he ran over to the safe in the child's floor and tossed the cigarette pack and lube in before shutting it and replacing the rug over it. He then ran out into the hall and to the bathroom to discard the cigarette butts in the toilet. He flushed the toilet and walked back to check on Stewie's progress. By the time he was back in the room, the baby was still naked but now in the process of retrieving his regular yellow shirt and overalls. Brian walked over to assist the kid in getting dressed. He grabbed a diaper from the changing table and grabbed a pair of socks from the baby's dresser drawer before walking over to his partner's side and kneeling down to put the diaper on him. He then put the socks on Stewie's feet and grabbed the clothes the infant was holding to put those on him as well. He made quick work of dressing the boy, grabbing a nearby pair of shoes to finish the task. With his lover all dressed and ready for the day, Brian stood up and smiled at him.

"Almost done, Kid. I'm just going to head downstairs and cleanup a little down there, too, and then, we'll be all ready for the other's arrival."

The infant smiled back at his lover and looked down at the ring that had been on his finger pretty much ever since Brian had given it to him. He let out a sad little sigh before taking the ring off and putting it in his pocket, hiding the gift away from the rest of the world. The canine frowned at the sight but knew that it was for the best that Stewie didn't wear his ring around the family. Once that was done, the boy looked back at his partner and motioned toward the pile of clothes that still needed to be put away.

"I guess, I'll get to work putting these away then, but I'll be down there to join you in a little bit. Alright?"

He smirked at the dog.

"I promise I won't keep you waiting too long."

The dog chuckled lightly at this before turning to exit the room and heading downstairs to finish erasing all the evidence of what all had happened over the past couple of days. Once he was in the living room, he began looking around for anything he needed to take care of. For the most part, there wasn't really anything suspicious to worry about, but his eyes stopped when he saw the bottle of Jack still sitting on the ground by the couch with the pair of shot glasses sitting next to it. He walked over, picked the bottle up in one paw, and grabbed the glasses with the other. He then walked into the kitchen and set the items down on the table. He grabbed a chair and pushed it up against the counter before grabbing the bottle of Jack again and climbing up to put it back in one of the upper cabinets. After that, he pushed the chair back over a couple of feet so that it was next to the sink and went back to grab the glasses to carry them over to the sink and rinse them out. He then dried them with a towel and placed them back in the proper cabinet. After that was done, he pushed the chair back and walked back into the living room to have a seat on the couch so he could relax. He was pretty sure that he had covered all of his bases. He smiled and folded his arms behind his head.

_That wasn't too bad, and now there's no way anyone will ever figure out what all me and Stewie did this weekend. If this is the most I have to worry about when it comes to the others finding out about me and Stewie, then I really don't know what I'm always worrying about._

He sighed peacefully and reached for the remote to turn the TV on so he could find something for him and Stewie to watch for the next hour or so before the family got home. He eventually settled on some sort of special on the Travel Channel dealing with alcohol in various countries. A few minutes later, Stewie came down to join him on the couch. Brian wrapped his arm around the boy with a smile and set the remote down to the side. There was silence for a while before the dog decided to speak up.

"It's going to be weird having the family back after this."

The baby looked up at him and shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm used to keeping secrets from them."

The canine shook his head, but the grin never left his face.

"Yeah, you are, but I'm not, at least not with something this big. I know I have no valid reason to worry about them suspecting anything, but…I just know that being around them is going to be awkward."

The boy placed a hand on his leg and patted it reassuringly.

"It might be weird at first, but I know you'll get used to it. You love me too much not to. This is going to get easier, Bry, and eventually, it'll just be second nature to use, and besides…"

The infant looked up to meet the canine's eyes.

"It's not always going to be like this. I'm determined to make sure that this is a long-term relationship, and one day, we're not going to have to worry about keeping our love a secret."

He looked back down and nestled his head in the pit of his partner's arm.

"This is all going to work out, trust me."

The canine just starred at his soulmate, amazed. This kid always knew just the right words to say.

_That's one of the reasons I love him so much._

He leaned back into the couch and began thinking. How had he made it so long without Stewie in his life like this. Sure, they had been friends for a while now, but at this moment, he just couldn't fathom his life without this relationship. Meeting Stewie was the single greatest thing that had ever happened to him. He was everything to Brian: a friend, a confidante, a lover, a partner, a soulmate. Everything the dog had ever wanted, and it had always been right here in this tiny little package that no one seemed to want to appreciate for its full worth, this special miracle of a child, and he was the only one who appreciated him. He scoffed at the ridiculousness of it all, but really, that was a part of what made everything so special. There wasn't single relationship in the world like theirs, and the thought of that made the canine's heart swell with pride. He kissed the top of his partner's head and refocused his attention on the television. After about half an hour, he heard the washing machine go off, so he got up to put the sheets in the dryer before returning to his spot on the couch next to his soulmate. About another half hour later, the family came home. Greetings were shared, stories about their trip were told, and all the while, Brian was amazed at how comfortable he felt with it all.

_I can do this._

* * *

A couple of days later, Brian, Stewie, and Lois were in the kitchen. Lois had recently just brought Stewie home from preschool and had just sat the baby down to have a cherry popsicle for a snack while she began talking to Brian about various things going on in her life. The dog listened, not really that interested but willing to provide the woman with an open ear for her to voice her opinions to. After finishing her rant, Lois got up from the table and sighed.

"I guess, I should get busy with the laundry. Chris and Meg will be in soon, and I need to go ahead and get that done."

The canine nodded his head and smiled.

"You do that, Lois. I've got things under control here with Stewie."

The woman smiled at him in appreciation before walking away to take care of her chore. Once she was gone, Stewie spoke up.

"She's going to be busy for a while. We've got a little time if we wanted to do something together real quick."

The canine turned to look at his partner, eyebrows raised.

"And what exactly did you have in mind?"

The infant chuckled and looked at the animal seductively.

"Oh, I think you know, but just in case you really don't…"

He lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Here's a little hint."

With those words, the child began licking the length of his popsicle up and down, slowly and sensually. The animal's eyes went wide as he immediately caught on to what Stewie was suggesting they do in their spare time. His tail began wagging, and he could feel his desire for the baby growing. It didn't help matters when the kid stopped licking the popsicle and moved on to putting it in his mouth and deep-throating the hell out of it, smirking suggestively at him the entire time, eyes never leaving his partner's. The dog gulped, nervous and not sure what to do.

_Lois is in the house! We…We can't do that with Lois in the house! It's too risky!_

Then, he remembered what Lois was doing, and he realized she would be doing that for a good while, more than enough time for him to have a quick romp with his lover. He knew Lois's regular habits. He knew where they could go, where the odds were very slim that they would be found. Besides, the show the kid was putting on for him was getting him really worked up anyway, and he had promised Stewie that he would try harder to not be so paranoid about things. This seemed like a good time to act on that promise. He sighed and grabbed the infant's hand.

"I'm sorry, Kid…"

The child removed the red popsicle from his mouth and frowned at the dog.

"Oh, come on, Brian! What's it going to hurt to…"

The animal placed a finger over his partner's lips and smirked at him suggestively.

"I'm sorry, Kid, but I have to interrupt your little show because, personally, I think you'd look a lot better with something else in your mouth."

The boy hadn't been expecting the dog to be so forward. Heck, he was surprised that the canine was actually going to go through with something like this. He blushed and cleared his throat.

"Well then, why don't you show me what this  _something else_ is."

In the next instant, the kid could feel himself being lifted out of his highchair. He dropped his popsicle, wrapped his arms around his lover's neck, and allowed the mutt to carry him off to somewhere private where they could enjoy themselves for a little while. He laughed joyously and kissed the dog passionately as they ascended the stairs before reaching into his pocket and putting on the ring the dog had given him as a symbol of their love.

* * *

" _Come on. Follow me. You're going to love this!"_

_The boy quickly sped off, dragging Brian through the living room, up the stairs, and into their bedroom. He stopped at the bookcase, which Brian knew concealed Stewie's hidden lab. The kid obviously wanted to show him a new invention of some sort. While Brian was busy pondering what it was that Stewie could possibly have cooked up in his lab. Stewie set to work inputting the proper passcode that revealed the secret room._

" _Alright, Brian! Prepare to be blown away!"_

_With that, the door to the lab began to open. Brian waited in anticipation to see what his partner wanted to show him, but when he finally caught a glimpse of what it was, he titled his head, confused._

" _Wha-What is that?"_

_The biggest grin that Brian had ever seen spread across the boy's face as he began explaining._

" _This is the solution! This is how I keep you with me! This is how we can stay together!"_

_It took the dog a second to realize what the kid was talking about, but when it finally clicked, his eyes lit up in delight._

" _You mean…"_

_The canine couldn't finish his sentence. His jaw fell open in awe, but then, all he could do was smile brightly. He could feel tears of joy welling up in his eyes as he began laughing with overwhelming happiness. He swept his soulmate up into a huge hug, squeezing him, trying his best to convey the great joy he was experiencing at this moment. The child laughed and hugged him back. After about a minute or so, the canine finally put his partner down, still grinning like an idiot._

" _I knew you could do it, Kid! I never doubted you for a second!"_

_The boy folded his arms and smirked at his partner._

" _Well, I should hope not. After all I've accomplished, I would think that you would have begun to grasp the full expanses of my intellect and what I'm capable of. I gave you my word that I would find a solution, and here it is."_

_The kid motioned toward his invention, and the dog just starred at it, trying to grasp just how huge this moment was. Everything was about to change. He looked back at his partner, finally beginning to calm down and think coherently._

" _Is it…Is it ready?"_

_The boy nodded and looked at him seriously._

" _It's ready whenever you are."_

_There was no doubt in the dog's mind that this was what he wanted, but he still found himself hesitating as he thought about what this all meant. Stewie had already given him so much, and now, the kid was about to go even further and give him the gift of a longer life. It was kind of hard to comprehend. It felt like he'd known this child for a lifetime already, but the truth was they still had a whole lifetime ahead of them. This was just the first step toward something much greater than he had ever imagined. How had he gotten so lucky to end up with this kid? After a couple of minutes of serious consideration, the dog took a deep breath and looked at his soulmate._

" _I'm ready."_

_The boy nodded his head and grabbed his soulmate's paw, leading him into the lab and toward the beginning of their bright future together._


End file.
